Titans North ::Scrapped Project::
by Spades Neil
Summary: Scrapped Teen Titans fan fiction that I wrote years ago. It's scrapped because it's too badly written to salvage. Maybe I'll start over one day, but probably not any time soon.
1. Titans North

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** 1. Spades Neil is **not a "self insert" character.** I had one (unnamed) person complain about that. I know it's my screen name, but it's also my own original character, who _IS_ allowed... Seriously, who names their kid Spades? That's a cruel joke on children. If you _read_ the actual story, though, you'd know that... I just finished chatting with a moderator to verify this thought. Also had to edit my profile since I said the character is based off of me. That can be taken out of context... So I edited that too so it says he's _loosely_ based off me, but still not in violation of the rules here. The kind of influence Spades gets from my real life is the same influence I could give Beast Boy, or Raven, or Robin for example... Good writers use real life events or other stories they've heard to influence writing. Works in both fan fiction and normal fiction.

2. Also, in response to a recent critique of Titans North's location in Boston, when "Titans East" is allegedly in NYC... One, the original Teen Titans was in NYC and later moved to Jump City in both the comics and TV show, don't know why. Two, Titans East is in Steel City, which is allegedly somewhere in New Jersey, though it can be debated that this is still not original I suppose. Three, both teams have dissolved anyway. Fourth and finally... the culture of Boston may interest you. Boston lives in the shadow of New York City after all. It wouldn't surprise me for a Titans North to sprout up just a few miles up the coast even in the comic series. Also notice the unfriendly Bostonian characters here? :P Yup, that's how we Bostonians are. Not very friendly. We're just jealous. That's my opinion anyway.

That is all. Enjoy the story.

* * *

**Titans North**

It was a cool and cloudy afternoon sometime in mid-October in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. A new group of vigilante crime fighters had arisen, inspired by a group out west once known as the Teen Titans.

The original group had long since broken apart. Their leader, a boy named Dick Grayson who's alias was Robin, had gone off as a lonewolf hero called Nightwing. Meanwhile, other members of the group had turned down their own individual paths. Rachel Roth, known as Raven, had secluded herself from most of the world, slowly slipping into a deeper and deeper state of isolation aside from a few close friends. The youngest of the group, the green-skinned changeling named Garfield Logan, or Beast Boy, had also grown up and disappeared. Rumor has it that he had gone to work for the circus, the only people who would hire such a freak. Cyborg, the half-man half-machine, who's true name is Victor Stone, was one of the few _seemingly_ active members of the old team. Still, that was only because he still lived the original tower, still in Jump City, California. Finally, the alien princess merely known as Starfire had also left, allegedly having returned to her home planet Tamaran in some far off galaxy.

Despite the dark demise of the original group, there were still heroes of a new generation who wanted to revive the Titans under a new leadership. This vision had evolved over the past year to become reality, under the watchful eye of a now seventeen year old boy who only calls himself Spades.

There upon the rooftop of the John Hancock tower in Boston, Spades stood and gazed into the New England horizon. The tower had been changed drastically, and modifications done to it had shaped it into a gigantic letter T. The top twenty or so floors of the building, which were widened during the renovations, had been given to Spades and his group known as the Titans North. However, the group was still small, comprising only of four members including him.

Spades of course was the leader. He was a pale-skinned, tall boy, with dark indigo eyes and hair. He often wore black clothes and sometimes a blue cape or cloak. People familiar with the old Teen Titans compared him to Raven, who, like Spades, dressed in such a manner. Spades even wore a red gem on his forehead. However, that is where the similarities end. In personality, Spades and Raven were polar opposites…

As he observes the reconstruction of the tower, Spades notices a strange plume of smoke rising from the harbor in the distance. A few minutes earlier, he had heard rumors of a possible super villain attack.

Spades looks up toward the overcast skies, figuring he could do this mission without the rest of his team. He took a step forward off the edge of the building, and leapt from its peak.

As he began to freefall, he calls out his famous Latin spell; _"Patefacio prolixus porta of __**Abyssus**__!" _which translated roughly to, 'Open wide gates of Hell!' With those words, a great energy spirals around him and strikes the pavement below.

A portal in the streets, encircled in flames, opens up. Spades dives straight through it into the pit of fire.

This was merely a mode of transportation. After soaring through an inferno, another portal opens in Boston Harbor, and Spades emerges from the blaze and lands on the pavement. The portal seals its self soon afterward.

Spades stands upright and looks around. He could hear alarms going off from the navy yard, and people screaming, then an explosion in the water. He sees a white ocean spray leap up over the docks and soak the ground close to the famous old wooden ship called the USS Constitution, which started listing soon after.

"Sh-t," Spades mutters to himself, "Where are these attacks coming from?"

His question was quickly answered by an obnoxious yet familiar voice.

"_Blimey_, Boston harbor is filled with such rubbish these days! Gone n' dumped all that good tea so long ago, eh? Well 'eres **PAYBACK!**" called Mad Mod over loudspeakers throughout the port. Spades was all too familiar with him. Mad Mod, a recent prison escapee, was a red-headed, slim, short man, with a sharp English accent and a _disturbingly_ obsessive British Nationalist motive. Now, one of the more modern navy vessels is struck by an explosion similar to what had hit the now sinking USS Constitution.

Someone yells out, "Torpedoes! Everyone get topside!"

Spades overhears, and quickly makes a run toward the dock's edge. Already a navy destroyer which was docked in the harbor had begun to sink. In the shallow waters, it doesn't get far, but the ship had been scuttled, rendered combat ineffective.

Out in the water, Spades spots a periscope over the waves. He had an idea to force the ship to the surface.

Spades had the ability of aerokinesis, the power to manipulate air. He also had the power to manipulate fire with pyrokinesis. When the two powers were combined, they allowed for an explosive effect.

Figuring Mad Mod had to be close enough to the surface to use the periscope, and the fact that a sub can only go so deep in a harbor, Spades prepares his spell.

"_Saaa-taaa Naa-maaa…_" he chants, gathering a powerful wind until it whirls around him. The concentration of wind compacts smaller and smaller until there's a visible orb held between his hands of pure, swirling oxygen. Then, he speaks again, "_Incendia tentatio!_" A fireball appears next, and joins the orb of compressed air before being shot out over the water.

Just as it reaches the periscope, a powerful and incredibly loud air-burst explosion sends a shockwave through the waves with more than enough force to smash the object protruding from the surface. The strength of the blast also went down through the water and damaged the hull integrity of the submarine it belonged to.

Spades procures a near by police boat. The police officer who owned it didn't much appreciate that. He had no time to react, however, except to scold Spades as he drove off.

Mad Mod's ears meanwhile were ringing after the painfully noisy 'thud' that went through his small submarine when Spades set off the blast. In addition, the top of the sub was now dented and damaged. Water was leaking in, and red lights started flashing. "Buggah! You li'ile knat! I'll teach you better!" He surfaces the submarine in an emergency.

Spades watches as a yellow painted submarine emerges from the depths. "Yellow? … Seriously?" his only reaction is a face-palm at The Beatles reference Mad Mod was going for.

Mad Mod pops out from the hatch on top of the crippled sub. As Spades closes the gap on his borrowed police boat, he could see the full extent of the hull damage.

The tower structure on the submarine was smashed over to one side. Spades couldn't help but wonder how the thing was even still afloat.

Mad Mod stands upon the sub and watches as Spades cruises toward him. He leans on his cane, topped with a red decorative gem, and lets out a bored yawn, "Time's a-ticking my duckie," he said aloud out to taunt Spades.

Spades jerks the steering wheel of the boat and rams up against the sub's bow. After the collision, Spades realizes the police officer _might_ not be too thrilled about that damage…

"Mad Mod," Spades declares, "I'll give you one final chance to surrender." He stands upon the steel hull of the submarine and begins walking forward.

Mad Mod only laughs, "You're not like the other Titans, are you? Or does Moddy just _frighten_ you?" he asks before swinging his cane at Spades, trying to strike him.

Spades backs away and uses a spell to summon a cane of his own. This one was his black staff, the handle in the shape of a dragon's head. Concealed inside the cane itself was a short and thin yet razor sharp sword, which he quickly draws from within.

Mad Mod observes the blade before smiling, "I didn't know those were used 'ere in America. Gone off and stolen the Brit's ideas again, 'ave we?" he asks before his own cane turns into a saber it's self. Once again, Mad Mod attacks Spades with a slash.

Rather than backing off this time, Spades blocks it. Using the sheath of the staff with one hand, and the sword with the other, he retaliates immediately after.

Mad Mod chuckles and effortlessly defends against Spades, all the while talking, "You think I'm here just to show off, do ye? On the contrary lad, ol' Moddy is just a messenger today!"

"Quite a message," Spades sarcastically remarks, certainly far from excited about Mad Mod's destruction of several navy ships, including a national icon.

"No, no, silly boy!" Mad Mod tells him before using a good few offensive attacks to push Spades back, "I'm just doing that for fun! Can't a tourist 'ave a bit of harmless fun?" he asks jokingly, "But no, no, I'm not in the neighborhood for sight seeing."

"Then what are you here for?" Spades had gotten some distance between them, now standing on the stern of the submarine and staring at Mad Mod.

"To let you know that you've inherited a _world_ of rubbish!" Mad Mod tells him, grinning, "You're the new Titans, after all! Except one problem; … You're _weak_! You're rookies! People want you out of the way!"

Spades mostly ignores him, figuring this was just Mad Mod's mad ranting. Mad Mod had never been a major villain to the old Teen Titans. Rather, he was a nuisance.

Mad Mod slips a little on the soaked hull of the submarine, but remains confident by appearance. "You're just a mop-up! A joke! A wannabe, as you Americans call it! Go back to your mum' and pop and stop trying."

Something about that last statement got Spades rather angry, which probably was the worst thing Mad Mod could do to him. Spades looks at him and walks forward with a look of darkness in his eyes, throwing down the sword in frustration. Spades threatens him, "You've pushed my patience far enough… However, I'm feeling merciful. Last chance to surrender, so choose wisely…"

Mad Mod only laughs, "You should know better!" he says. In the background, Spades spots an unmanned speed boat with a British flag emblazoned on the hood. It was obviously Mad Mod's escape vehicle. Mad Mod grins at Spades and tells him, "By the way… The message, you'll understand soon en'uff. _Dawn is breaking_ laddie! _Dawn is breaking!_" With that, he turns and runs.

Spades frowns, "You're a _fool_." His voice suddenly started to change and his nails began to grow. White scales started to cover Spades's body, and his teeth became fanged like that of a demon.

Mad Mod was fleeing. He jumps up on top of the submarine's tower and then makes another leap to the speedboat that had pulled up. After quickly putting on a pair of goggles and a stylish scarf, Mad Mod throttles it.

Spades meanwhile was no longer standing there. Instead, a new figure watched Mad Mod with slit yellow eyes, cyan blue long hair, and a body covered in scales with white on his back and an ocean blue-green underbelly. Clothing was also gone, but nothing vulgar was exposed, as if clothing was unnecessary. Finally, a long and twisting tail swished behind him, tipped with fur colored the same as his hair.

This was Avro, the alter form of Spades. He was half demon, half dragon, and not at all human. Avro is quick to react to the escaping British lunatic once the transformation is complete.

Mad Mod was already starting to speed away when Avro suddenly darts across the water with amazing speed. At first, he appears to run across the surface, but then he's simply gliding like a hawk in low flight, closing in on its prey.

The speedboat rocks violently when Avro lands on the engines. Mad Mod turns quickly, "What the devil!? Aye! Buggah off!" He turns to strike Avro with the cane.

Avro catches it and jerks it away, snapping it in one hand before taking the two halves and smashing the plastic protective cover of the engines. Avro reaches in to rip out a fuel line.

_"Your stupidity will be the death of you… A chance to surrender, and yet you decline? I hold no pity."_ Avro tells Mad Mod in his deep, clear, penetrating voice.

Mad Mod only had time to stare before Avro jumps away. Less than a couple seconds later, the fuel ignites and causes an explosion that completely disables the boat. It coasts down the harbor for a moment longer until it came to a stop, helplessly drifting with the current. Minutes later, police sirens can be heard… The Boston Police department's harbor patrol and the Coast Guard had finally caught up. They were quick to arrest him.

Meanwhile, Avro had used another portal much like the one Spades used earlier, retreating to a near by building rooftop and watching as Mad Mod was arrested. Avro speaks to Spades, _"Do me the fortune of informing me; such incompetent fools with fancy toys will _not_ be the majority of my challenges."_

Spades retakes control of his body, and Avro transforms back. Clothing returns as if by magic, and in no time Spades is the only one standing there. He'd reply to Avro none the less, "I would like to hope not, but they say to be careful what you wish for." Spades turns away and starts down the fire escape.

"_True, but I am certain that I wish for more of a challenge, as should you… Do not squander your potential on such foolish endeavors,"_ Avro argues.

"Another day I suppose," Spades decides. The day was his, and the pride of victory was sure. It was time to return home for tonight.


	2. Spades

**Spades**

Spades returns to Titans Tower, still a bit shaken from the recent battle, but he did not let it bother him. This was the life he was going to have to get used to. There were no other opportunities in the world for someone like him. Approaching the base of the T-shaped John Hancock tower, he enters through the newly installed revolving doorway.

Most of the building was still rented out to various companies throughout Boston for office space, which brought Titans North some income aside from what the city its self was paying them for their work, but top twenty floors had all been widened, giving the tower its T-shape. The additional space allowed the Titans to have more room to move about for various purposes ranging from recreation to training courses, and future expansion.

After checking in with security, Spades takes the elevator to the fifty-fifth floor and walks out into the corridor. It was still white with unpainted plaster and the floors were dusty from all the sanding. Though the building's exterior was complete, the interior of the tower was still under construction.

Along the way, Spades comes across one of the head contractors of the project. He tells Spades, "Electrical on the top twenty floors is finally up. Now our only problem is getting sufficient power to the new control center."

Spades nods, "Any idea of how you may be able to do that?"

"Yea… but it involves basically boring a hole through the entire building to reach the ground floor. Either we use one of the elevator shafts as a conduit, or we make a new hole, but that will compromise the structure even further. You _realize_ we're violating a page full of building codes with this, right?" the contractor complains, displeased.

"Let me worry about that," Spades replies calmly, "I'm paying for this as it is, so I'll pay the fines. Why not install some solar panels on the top floor to reduce power needs?"

"_No_," the contractor remarks, ignoring Spades's suggestion, "The _City of Boston_ is paying for it, and don't tell me how to do my job. You don't see me telling you how to _fight crime_."

Spades frowns at that, "Get back to work or you'll be the third contractor I've fired," he threatens the man in a sharp change of mood before walking off. While most people thought super-powered crime fighters was a great idea, there were plenty of people who disagreed with it. They argued the presence of heroes would just encourage criminals rather than discourage people from breaking the law.

None the less, crime dropped when Spades arrived with his superhero team. By the time Spades and his team finally had their tower in an inhabitable condition; Boston's crime levels had dropped so sharply that it had nearly become the safest major city in the country. While most give credit to the Titans North for this, the belief was not shared by everyone, especially those in law enforcement who felt the Teen Titans are an embarrassment to their efforts. Whatever the case truly was though, the drop in crime made things boring. It left Spades and his team little to do but watch their home being built.

After walking down the hall for a short time, Spades arrives in the living room off to the east wing of the tower. It was a wide room that took up one broad corner of the tower's windows. It was a different design as compared to the original Teen Titan's tower, where the living room was centralized, and the building floor plan was a parallelogram rather than a square. This plagued the original John Hancock Tower, and it presented a lengthy list of problems encountered throughout construction because of the tower's now increasingly unusual design.

On one of the couches, with his feet up on the coffee table, was the fox-demon boy named Triard. He was a light gray anthropomorphic fox with a pair of black bat wings. He wore nothing but blue jeans with a slit cut in the back for his tail, and a black military cap with a Russian Red Star on the front. It was over his eyes, and he appeared to be napping.

Playing the Xbox 360 was Dimitri Token, a green changeling who was the result of a similar program that Beast Boy from the original Teen Titans came from. Dimitri called himself Beast Boy 'Zero' since he hated his real name, and the fact that he had all the traits of Beast Boy, but magnified ten fold, both the good and the bad. Spades and the others called him 'Zero' for short because this avoided confusion between him and the original.

Zero looked a lot like the old Beast Boy, but he had a myriad of mental problems, many of which contradict and cancel each other out at times. His powers on the other hand make up for this, because his ability to manipulate his own DNA structure allowed him even to make clones of himself when necessary.

Beside him was a girl yelling, "Dude! Shoot the one on the left!" This was Albion Beast Girl, simply known as Leyla most of the time. Leyla too was a changeling, though her origins were less widely known to the team. It is suspected that she and Zero might be from the same genetic program, but Leyla has far less memory of her past. Spades met her many years ago, and they had since fallen in love and grown up together through their teenage years.

Spades goes into the fridge, getting some Arizona Iced Tea to drink and calm his nerves. He had retrieved his cane from the harbor a little after the fight, which he had left by the doorway. He looks up at the monitor hanging against the window to see what Zero was playing. Spades speaks up to start conversation, "Playing Halo 3 again?"

"Yea! F—ing noob keeps stealing my sniper!" Zero remarks, throwing the controller at the floor in frustration.

Seeing Spades, Leyla smiles and walks over to hug him. "Hiya Jer! Where've you been? I thought you were gonna be back at three."

"Thought I was," Spades replies, "Mad Mod decided to make a guest appearance… Smashed up Boston Harbor," he sighs, "Sank one of my favorite monuments."

Triard lifts his hat a little, "Yea, saw it on the news," he says before going back to napping.

Zero, who had picked up his controller now, looks over and ask; "Why didn't you call us!? We _so_ could have kicked his ass!"

"It was unnecessary," Spades told him before changing the topic, "By the way, wanna play split-screen later?"

"Oh, sure!" Zero replies. He returns to playing Halo, searching for a new game.

Spades takes another sip of his drink before taking Leyla's hand.

Leyla looks at Spades and asks him quietly, "Something wrong? You seem down…" She held his hand tightly.

Spades sighs a bit, "That contractor is pissing me off… Sometimes I wonder if we're doing the right thing making this team."

"It was _your_ idea," she says sarcastically, trying to make him laugh.

It didn't work. Spades just sighs, "Save the joking for later. Not in the mood at the moment."

Leyla groans, "Come on…" She tugs his arm toward the hallway.

Spades follows after a moment of resistance, "Fine, fine, I'm coming." He finishes his drink quickly and tosses his cup in the sink before letting Leyla pull him away.

A few flights of stairs later, they emerge at the rooftop. The wind around them was cold and howling so high up in the air. Now that they were alone, Leyla takes Spades to a large metal vent which they could use as a seat for now.

Spades sits beside her, "So, why'd you bring me up here?" he asks.

"You tell me, Jer…" Leyla was the only one who called him by his real name, or his old nickname. "You're not in a good mood, are you?"

"No, I feel fine," Spades tells her.

She just gives him a look, seeing right through his charade.

Spades sighs again after a moment, knowing he can't fool her, "Ok, fine then… Being in Boston Harbor just reminded me of old times."

"What do you mean?" Leyla asks, laying on his lap and putting her feet up.

"Well, my Nanna brought me to the USS Constitution once when I was little. Seeing Mad Mod destroy it just made me mad."

"Nanna? You mean like your grandma?"

"Yea, on my dad's side of the family," Spades explains.

Leyla nods and sits up again, "… What ever happened to your parents anyways? You never tell us…"

"It's not important," Spades tells her, trying to change the topic, "They're gone from my life; all that matters."

"You miss them, don't you?"

"…" Spades fell silent. He didn't want to reply to that. After all, it's been nearly a year.

Leyla hugs Spades around the chest, "Don't worry… You still have us."

"I know, but I've been having nightmares about them lately… They just keep coming back to my memories." He went quiet again.

Leyla groans a little, "Why you gotta be such a downer?"

Spades shrugs, "Eh, I guess it's just the way I am."

"Well, stop it," Leyla smirks and starts to tickle him.

Spades gacks at first, "Ah! H-hey, no!" He quickly caves and begins laughing.

Leyla giggles victoriously before getting back up. "Cheer up. Halloween is coming soon. You should be happier."

"I know," Spades replies, catching his breath, "I'll do my best… Even after the darkest nights, morning always comes, right?"

Leyla smiles now, "Glad you're taking your own advice for a change. Yea, things will get better. Now let's go back inside… I'm cold." She shivers a little. Having lived in the south most of her life, Leyla wasn't used to New England weather.

"Alright," Spades stands up as well and takes Leyla's hand as they walk back downstairs into the tower.

Despite the optimism however, Spades couldn't shake the feeling that something was in store for him some time soon. His power of intuition was acting up again, possibly warning him about days to come. Maybe he should go off and visit Raven for some advice. Spades was one of the few people that Raven stayed in contact with, and it was only true because Spades had put such an effort into knowing her because of the wealth she held with magic knowledge.

However, Raven was also a friend in the sense that Spades was possibly the _only_ one she trusted enough to express some of her feelings around. She need not worry of Spades being 'creeped out' by her dark nature, for he was the same.

Returning downstairs into the living room, Spades finally picks up the Xbox controller beside Zero, "Ok, I'm back. And you, Zero, prepare to be pwned," he grins.

Zero's eyes light up at the challenge, "You're on!" he declared, starting a new game.


	3. Nevermore, Part 1

**Nevermore; Part 1**

Later in the day, the twilight sun was beginning to disappear over the Bostonian horizon. After hours of playing with Zero on the Xbox, it came time for Spades to attend to other matters. With the end of one last game of Halo 3, Spades informs Zero, "I've gotta go see someone in a bit. We'll play more tomorrow. Same time, same place?"

Zero groans, "Come on Spades, one more game!"

Spades shakes his head, "No, tomorrow," he repeats, logging out of his profile on the Xbox, and setting down the controller.

Zero shrugs and continues to play. "I hope you're not going off to fight more crime without us!" he exclaims, searching for another game. Halo 3 had gotten boring. Instead, he pulled out Left 4 Dead and used his powers to split his body in two, creating a physically identical clone as a game buddy.

Spades goes again to the kitchen area to grab something to drink, then proceeds down the hallway. He was heading for his bedroom which was a couple floors up.

He turns into the large stair well and starts his ascent. Reaching the 57th floor, he departs into the hallway again and soon arrives in the living quarters of the Titans North Tower.

In this area, there were ten bedrooms, but only four of them were currently used. The other six were reserved for guests and potential new team members. When Spades created this team, he was hoping more people would join. Then again, the team wasn't even a year old yet.

His bedroom was the first one to the left. Right side of the hall, across from Spade's door, Leyla had a room of her own. Next door down was Zero's room, which most people feared to enter due to the sights and smells inside. Triard's room was a few rooms further down because he was more active during the night than the day, so he kept his room further off in order to avoid disturbing the others.

Spades presses a button to open the sliding metallic door, taking a few steps into his room until it automatically closes behind him. Inside, it was very dark. The only source of illumination was a computer in the corner which was usually left on during the day.

Next to the computer was a joystick and aircraft controls for a flight simulator. Spades may have seemed like a dark person, but he had a very playful side when in private company, or around Leyla. However, he did not come to his bedroom to play computer games. He feels along the wall for the light switch and illuminates the room.

As he turns on the lights, he flips another switch to open up the window shades. He gazes out the window to see the sun setting over the Boston skyline.

Spades slips into a short moment of nostalgia, able to see the Amtrak railroad from here. His dad used to work there when he was very young, during better days. His grandmother also worked there until the day she retired. He snaps out of his memories by shaking his head and then walks toward a small library of his. He browses through it until he stumbles upon a book of poems by Edgar A. Poe. This caught his interest, so he began reading the first story he opened up to; The Raven. It was one of his favorites.

_Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,  
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.  
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow  
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -  
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -  
Nameless here for evermore._

Funny, his grandmother's real name was Lenore. The same month that his parents died about a year ago, she had passed away only a few weeks earlier in a plane crash. It was a cold, cloudy, _bleak_ Saturday in December. The thoughts merely sparked his curiosity, but the feeling of nostalgia was worsened when memories his parents' demise around Christmas arose. He was very close to his grandmother, and his family was torn upon her death. Tensions rose until finally on Christmas Eve, his world came crashing down as if cruel fate was punishing them for their spite toward one another.

With these thoughts haunting his mind, he closed shut the book immediately and read nothing more of the poem. Spades was not going to start thinking about the tragedies of that entire month; it was something he'd rather forget.

Spades had almost forgotten the real reason he came here. He places the book back on the shelf before searching for another, this one a spell book.

He opens it wide and flips through the pages, making sure it's the right one. Once he was certain it was, he tightens his cape and proceeds to the center of the room.

Spades began to mutter a spell, almost a whisper, _"Patefacio prolixus porta of abysuss…"_ The closet door begins glowing around the edges with a fiery red-orange aura. He grabs the handle and opens it. Flames emerge from the doorway, grazing the ceiling and floor, but scorching nothing. Spades took a few steps forward until he was _within_ the inferno, but he was not burned. The Flames of Hell would not threaten him, for he ruled them.

The door closes behind Spades, and he emerges again on the other side of this portal, into Dante's Inferno. In this world, his alter-ego Avro was able to separate from Spades's mortal body.

Avro's ghostly form erupted from above him. His long, serpentine dragon body went swirling around and skimming across the lava before coming to a rest on the path way in front of Spades.

When Avro sets down again, his body solidifies and becomes opaque. He transforms from dragon to an anthro hybrid between man and beast, looking exactly as he had earlier that day when they fought Mad Mod.

Spades continues walking, unsurprised, "Bored, Avro?" he asks.

Avro growls a bit and stretches, _"Quite. I have little desire in dwelling through the volumes of your subconscious, especially as you continue to ponder about the demise of your parents. It is becoming an obsession."_

Spades just didn't reply to him. He didn't have to.

Avro frowns and walks beside Spades, _"You have no interest in conversation, do you?"_

"Not really," Spades replies.

"_It is unnecessary. I already know your thoughts on the matter."_

Spades again didn't reply to Avro. He knew that Avro was talking about his parents again.

Avro tells him, _"This obsession will destroy you, boy… Heed my warning."_

Spades turns his head toward Avro, "I want to hear nothing more of the topic. Understood?"

Avro only smirks and laughs darkly, _"You truly are stupid if you believe that by simply silencing _me_ that you have a chance of forgetting."_

"No, I think if you'll stop _reminding_ me of it, I can put my mind on more important matters!" Spades raises his voice slightly at Avro.

Avro only laughs, _"Intimidation does not work on me… You should know better. I am the very embodiment of your anger."_

"And you're doing a good job at pissing me off right now," Spades tells him, "Change the topic or stop talking all together."

Avro chuckles, _"As you wish. However, you will eventually realize that memories as strong as this can never be crushed or forgotten for they are __**seared**__ into your mind. You should confront it, rather than trying to ignore it…"_

"I talk to Leyla, don't I?"

"_You cover up your emotions."_

"No I don't," Spades protests.

"_I speak not of your words to others…"_

"Huh?"

"_You lie to _yourself_ about your emotions."_

"No, I don't… Sure, life sucks, but I'll live."

"_It amazes me how you can be so open about your feelings, yet so isolated from them. I know not, another mortal of your age who shares such bizarre personality traits."_

"Well, I never _have_ acted like other teens, have I?"

"_This is true. Even in childhood, you spoke as an adult. Yet, you still do not realize that despite your supposedly _advanced_ mental capability, you are just a __**boy.**__"_

Spades shot a glare over at Avro now, displeased. He hated it when someone basically told him that because he was young, he automatically knew less than his elders. He responds to Avro with a sneer, "You may be five-thousand years of age, but if you still believe that age means wisdom, and foolishness comes with youth, then it is only you who is naïve."

"_Say what you wish Spades, but you and I both know the truth… A fear you will never overcome, a past you will never forget, unless the day comes when you accept your existence for what it is."_

"I never said I was afraid of anything," Spades argues.

"_Then what 'fear' were you telling Leyla of? I see through you, boy. My domain is in your mind. My lifeblood is by your memories. You cannot manipulate me. There is nothing you can hide from me. You may close your eyes to reality, but not your memories. Ironic, how you are more truthful to your love, than you even are to __**yourself**__."_ With that final, disgusted comment, Avro fades as they reach the next portal.

Spades opens his mouth to reply, but Avro was already gone. He could carry on the conversation if he wanted to, but he knew that Avro wouldn't listen anyway. Giving up, Spades realizes he was at the other end of the long and winding path through Hell. Now, the second portal lay before him.

Spades steps into the portal and walks through for the second time, letting the flames surround him on the way out until they disappear as abruptly as they came.

Spades heard a crack of thunder, and he could feel rain pouring around him, icy and cold, in sharp contrast to the dry inferno he just traversed. He looks up at the skies to see a terrible storm, and then down to the soggy earth again.

He could see a swing set near by, a slide, monkey bars, and a dampened sand box. Spades had emerged into some playground, but despite the short length of the walk, Spades was very far from home.

He gazes out onto the horizon to see a city skyline and beyond it a harbor. He had arrived in Jump City, California. It was still around four in the afternoon here, but it was as black as night. A plane trip to this same location may have taken at least six to eight hours, thus balancing out the changes in time zones, but Spades had arrived in this place after a mere ten minute stroll through the underworld. Now all Spades had to do was find Raven.


	4. Nevermore, Part 2

**Nevermore; Part 2**

Some time later, after walking through the freezing rain, Spades arrives outside a run-down apartment building in downtown Jump City. He climbs the worn stone stairs to the doorway and searches for a PA system of some sort, but cannot find one.

Spades had a sudden, eerie feeling over him, like he was being watched. He realizes he probably was, because Raven was indeed a powerful sorceress who could perform such surveillance with magic. Spades opens his mouth to call her name.

"Raven—!" He's cut off as the door unlocks on its own, "… Oh, ok." So she _did_ know he was here. Pushing the door open, he gets out of the freezing rain and into the dark apartment building. The lights turn on around him, once again seemingly by themselves, and flicker their dim tan aura upon the dirty walls and dusty floor. This show was meant to frighten unwanted guests, but Spades knew better. "You know Raven…" he calls into the apparently empty voids of the building, "You're just going to make everyone think this place is haunted if you keep this up," he chuckles, having no anxiety over such things.

Raven floats quietly down the stairs into the poorly lit halls of the first floor. The pale girl's face was shadowed beneath a dark blue hood, and her body hidden beneath the rest of the cloak like an indigo ghost. She gazed upon Spades for a moment, not saying a word. Her wide, blue eyes were most noticeable beneath her shroud, but Spades could still make out the stale, unemotional look on her gray face beneath the shadow.

She opens her mouth to speak, having a comparatively monotone and almost whispering voice as opposed to Spades. "That's what it's supposed to do," she says simply, responding to Spades's comment about her creepy entrance, "Maybe I need to work on it a little more?"

Spades notices a very faint, but evident smile on her face. He chuckles a bit as he understood the sarcasm, "In any case, how are you this afternoon?"

"Nothing new," Raven tells him. She lifts her arms up from beneath her cloak, revealing the black skin-tight leotard beneath. She pulls her hood gently down to expose her short, well-groomed indigo hair, as well as the red gem on her forehead. "What about you?" she asks, "You and Beast Girl still getting along?"

"Sure are," Spades smiles, walking forward now toward the stairway.

Raven turns to follow, levitating beside Spades at eye-level, despite being a few inches shorter. "So what did you come here for?" She could sense Spades's unease, but didn't say anything about it yet.

"Oh, mostly just some more training, maybe show you a couple good books I came across."

"Nothing else?" she asks, glancing at him as they advance toward the second floor, then the third.

"…Nothing else," Spades confirms after a moment's pause, but he knew that was a lie.

"Something is troubling you…" Raven sees right through him.

Spades groans, "Is it _really_ that obvious?"

"Yes."

"…" Spades sighs deeply, "First Leyla, now you?"

"I bet Leyla got more answers than I will."

"It's just me thinking about my parents again, same thing I told Leyla," Spades explains, walking ahead and trying to trivialize the topic. It was old news to him.

Raven picks up her speed and swoops back up beside him, "It's been almost a year, Spades. I understand you're troubled, but you have to move on eventually."

Avro interrupts, taking over Spades's voice for a moment. _"What do you think _I've_ been telling him?"_ Spades winces and takes back control immediately, a little angry, "Avro! What did I tell you about possessing me?!"

Raven raises an eyebrow, "If I had never met Avro, I'd think you a madman."

"Yea, well maybe I am a little schizophrenic, but that doesn't mean I'm not pissing myself off because of it. Got any spells to shut him up for a while?"

"I do…" Raven says, and then allows an awkward silence come over them.

Spades breaks the silence after a moment, "… Can you _teach_ me one?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it's more fun to watch you suffer," she says sarcastically.

Spades sighs again, "Forget it. In any case, let's just get started."

By now, they had reached the top floor, which was originally a storage area but it had been converted into a ritual chamber for Raven's spells. Unlike the rest of the building, this area appeared to be maintained and refurbished.

Spades removes his cape now and sets it down on a chair. He was wearing all black underneath, from his shirt to his shoes and everything in between. Raven does the same with her own cloak, then sets her feet down on the floor to walk normally. She tells him, "We'll just be doing the regular practice again today… You need to learn to control your emotions. Let's see if you've gotten any better yet."

"I find it healthier and more effective in magic to use my emotions and express them," Spades argues.

"You'll find that magic works much better when your emotion doesn't supply it."

"I disagree, but very well," he shrugs and sits down, cross-legged on the floor. "Satanic spells are performed very differently then I guess."

"These are not Satanic spells though. They're Azarathian rituals."

"What's the difference between yours and mine again?"

"It requires you not to let your emotions control you," she repeats.

"However—"

Raven interrupts him this time, "_However_ you may believe magic works, even your powers will work better when you _control_ your emotions rather than emancipate them. Not even _I_ hide my emotions, I control them."

Spades gave up the argument, despite finding Raven's claim somewhat hypocritical, "Very well then. Maybe you have a point."

Raven nods, "Good, now we begin…" She places a glass chalice between them, a delicate piece, "Bring yourself into a state of emotional neutrality, then try to lift the glass."

"I can do that _without_ a spell," he jokes, picking up the glass with his hands.

Raven just stares at him with a look that told him to stop screwing off.

Spades loses his smile, "Ok, ok…" He places it back on the floor and closes his eyes, then chanting, _"Azarath metrion zinthos…"_

Raven watches him inventively, able to sense his aura.

Spades began searching through the depths of his mind, clearing it out of all impurities as he floated into a trance.

Suddenly though, he hears Avro's voice, _"Spades, stop this spell immediately. It isn't safe, it's happening again."_

Spades responds in his own mind, _"Avro, don't interrupt me."_

"_Nevermind, it's too late."_ Avro fades and waits for the inevitable.

At this point Spades had reached a portion of his mind dedicated to his older memories. This was the obstacle he had come across so many times before with this magic, and failed. Like an ancient tomb, the doors of his subconscious swing open. The memories escape and soar through his mind.

He opens his eyes again, but he cannot see Raven or the apartment, only the glass he was focused upon and a black void everywhere else. A dark aura surrounds the chalice and begins to lift it into the air.

Spades tries to contain the memories, or not allow them to effect him, but too many flew fourth at once. The glass began to tremble. He tries to control it as thoughts poison his mind.

As Spades stared into the empty abyss of this trance, images start to flash through his head. He sees a moment of his childhood, when he and his father went fishing at the water locks in Boston. He could remember how his grandmother came over that day to bring them sandwiches, since she worked at the train stations near by at Commuter Rail and Amtrak.

He remembered happier times for a moment, and soon it was too late to turn back as he went along with the memory. However, it isn't long until those memories betray him. Suddenly, his world erupts into fire, images of a home burning to the ground, the smell of seared flesh, and Spades snaps out of the trance to let out a horrible cry. **"DAD!"**

Suddenly, the chalice shatters and scatters shrapnel in every direction. Raven quickly lifts her arm to shield her face from the shards of glass. She looks at Spades in frustration, "How are your abilities supposed to advance if this keeps happening?"

Spades looks at her, clearly angry, "How am I supposed to help it?! The memories flow, and if I try to suppress them, they just build up and break loose!"

"You don't suppress them, you accept and control them," she replies firmly, her facial expression showing her lack of patience, though she does not raise her voice. "You're not listening."

"I am listening," Spades replies, trying to calm down again, "But you have no idea how difficult it was for me."

"My father was a demon who tried to destroy the world. Don't get me started on family matters."

"Yea, well you still have parents… and at _least_ a mother who's not dead…" Spades remarked.

Raven stares at him for a moment until her view turns upon the now broken glass all over the floor. She closes her eyes and channels energy toward it. The thousands of shards around the room pick themselves up and elegantly float toward the epicenter again. Soon, they start reforming together, like pieces of a puzzle.

Spades meanwhile knows what to do next. He performs a spell he's far more familiar with, creating a hot ball of fire in the palms of both his hands. Using it, he places his hands around the chalice as it comes back together. The heat eventually melts the glass and fuses the broken parts back together while Raven's own abilities hold it still.

Raven comments, "It's dangerous to play with fire, you know…"

"I've been using this power since I was thirteen."

"I'm not talking about your abilities, Spades."

"What do you speak of then?" he inquires.

"Using your emotions to fuel your power; it's not safe. One day it could even backfire. You'll have to move on eventually or you'll lose everything. They're never coming back and you have to accept it, but it's _ok._" Raven knew about his parents from past conversations. She knew that it was most often a memory about his old life that prevented him from completing the training.

Spades asks, seemingly out of the blue, "Have you ever read that poem by Edgar Poe?"

"Which one?" she asks.

"The Raven."

She rolls her eyes. "… Well, obviously."

"Well, you're reminding me a lot of the bird in that poem."

"That bird has a pretty good point though. _Nevermore,_ and it's a fact you'll have to come to accept," Raven explains.

"Accept? Accept what? I don't deny the fact that my parents are _dead,_ that my grandmother Lenore is _dead,_ that my sister is _dead._ That my own remaining family, cousins, uncles, aunts…" he calms down, "They may as well be dead."

That last part was news to Raven, "Why them?"

"My aunt, who was _supposed_ to be my godmother, doesn't agree with my Satanic faith nor does the rest of the remaining family," he explains.

"They told you this themselves?"

"They haven't, but I know better…"

"Have you even tried finding out?" Raven asks.

Spades shakes his head with a sigh. "No, not that it matters now anyway… I've lost contact with everyone since my parents died. Even before that, no one agreed with me joining the Teen Titans when I started coming to terms with my powers."

"I remember when you first came to the tower," Raven says, "I was very skeptical about you at first."

"Understandable," Spades comments, "After all, I appeared in the aftermath of a traitor." He was referring to a girl named Terra who once was a part of the Titans until she joined their enemy, an assassin known as Deathstroke, who was allegedly Slade Wilson.

"Yes, but that is another story." Raven continues, "You did everything you could to prove your loyalty to the Titans… even if it meant making Robin mad." A faint smile came to her face again at an amusing memory from their earlier days. "I was trying not to laugh when you talked Control Freak into giving up."

Spades chuckles now, "That was a funny day. You were going to laugh?" he asks, somewhat surprised.

Raven's smile grew a little now, "Yes. I had never seen Robin so furious, and you just knew you were doing the right thing. I think it's the first time a super villain surrendered peacefully… No battle, barely even a verbal fight. Robin doesn't like being proved wrong."

Spades laughs, "I prefer verbal negotiation. Robin likes _aggressive_ negotiation."

"What's the difference?" Raven asks.

"_Aggressive_ negotiation is done with your fists," he chuckles, "I mean, Control Freak for example, he's an alright guy when you stop throwing punches and talk with him. I wouldn't say he's super villain either, he's more of a hardcore fanboy. He's a _beast_ at Call of Duty though."

"I would imagine…" Raven tells him as she stands up. "Speaking of videogames, you want to visit Cyborg?" she asks, "He's been asking for a rematch in Halo."

"Victor?" Spades looks up, "Is he still living at the old tower?"

"He is."

"Sure, why not?"

With those last words, they pick up their capes from the chair they left them upon earlier, and depart. A few flights of stairs later and they were back on the streets. At least now it had stopped raining.


	5. Forgotten

**Forgotten**

After leaving the apartment building, it didn't take very long for them to start hearing the faint sound of cars moving about in the metropolis that was Jump City. A few minutes later, Raven and Spades arrive in one of the main districts of the metropolis.

Their destination was the harbor, where the old Titans Tower still stood. Raven offers to Spades, "You know, we _could_ just fly…"

"Yes, I know, but I'd like to see the sights a bit." It had been a while since Spades had walked through Jump City. He can see a pizza parlor across the street where the main road divides. "Remember back in the day when we used to go to that place all the time?"

Raven looks for a moment before giving Spades a simple, "Yes."

Spades asks her, "Do you and Victor still go on occasion?"

"Cyborg does. Not me. I never liked pizza."

"Well, no, but you liked the pasta they served there."

"I guess…" she said quietly as she continues to walk, "But no, I haven't gone, not for many years now."

Spades thinks for a moment about his home city of Boston. "This city was always so friendly to you all. We often celebrated victories in that very pizza parlor. I don't understand why they don't like us back at home. I mean sure, most people think a superhero is a good idea, but not all of them."

"So?" Raven asks, "Don't worry about them yet," she says.

"I'm afraid inevitably I _will_ have to address their needs."

"Don't worry about them _yet_," Raven repeats, "You have to earn their trust."

"It's hard to believe how open Jump City was about having a superhero group."

"That's because when our group started, the city already had a super villain _problem_. The police couldn't stop them," Raven explains. "On the other hand, Boston doesn't quite have the same issue… and Boston isn't really known for its _kindness_."

Spades sighs, "Still, I'm just trying to do the right thing and help out my community a little. I mean there are still gang bangers and mobsters that plague the city, and so far an increasingly incompetent police force hasn't done us much good."

Raven continues, "Another problem is your team appeared out of the blue. There weren't any familiar faces in it. At least Robin was already a famous crime fighter when he started the Teen Titans."

"I guess that plays an important part," Spades admits, "But I guess no one has ever heard of 'Spades Neil' or 'Albion Beast Girl' let alone my other two team mates. The only one even getting _some_ publicity is Dimitri. You know, Zero?"

Raven frowns, "Don't even mention his name around me," she reminds Spades, "The original Beast Boy was bad enough…"

Spades apologizes, "Sorry… Still, they just recognize him because of that affiliation, because he _looks_ like the original. The rest of us, no one has ever heard of. I still go around and people ask me why I'm in a cape, some even laugh. I tell them I'm in Titans North and they go, _'Titans what?'_ " Spades was clearly annoyed by the way the public treated his team.

"Well," Raven says, "Your team hasn't even been around a whole year yet. You're still building your tower. Plus, it's in the middle of the city instead of some island minding its own business."

"I guess that's another good point… Well, I _was_ trying to find a nice little quiet island off the coast at first." Back when Spades first sought out a location to begin construction, he thought he was going to start from scratch on some island in Cape Cod. Then he walked into a deal with Boston's mayor and the company that had owned the John Hancock Tower.

"I guess that didn't quite work, did it?" Raven asks.

"I suppose not," Spades admits with some frustration. He went quiet for a few moments before starting to talk again, "So many memories in this city… It's where it all began for me."

"Why did you want to join the Titans in the first place, Spades?"

"I wanted to do something in this world, make it a better place."

Raven raises an eyebrow, "Is that it?" She doubted that was the only reason. "I know better Spades… There's more to it than that. Robin's parents were killed by mobsters in a sabotaged circus act. Cyborg used to be human with scientist parents when an experiment went wrong, maiming him and killing his mother, while his father used robotics to save him. Beast Boy had a disease called Sakutia that was cured by a serum that mutated him to let him change into other creatures. Starfire was chased off her home world and captured into the slave trade, then crashed here on earth. _I_ came to this world because I was trying to get away from my father." Raven's father was a powerful demon named Trigon who once tried to destroy the world, and nearly succeeded. "But what's your reason?"

Spades tries to reply to that, but he honestly didn't know. "… In truth, I'm not even that sure anymore. I just feel _driven_ to do it. I've always wanted to help the world. _Leave my mark._ Not for the fame, but just to make it a better place…"

"You really are an _indigo child_, aren't you?" Raven asks, smiling faintly, referring to stories of what a psychic friend of Spades's family said about him on his birth.

Spades manages to smile slightly as well, "You know, all the stories I've heard about that 'prophet' and yet I have never met her…"

"Maybe you will one day," Raven decides.

"Maybe she is the last existing link to my dead family…" Spades tells her.

Raven realizes something, "That's it."

"What's it?"

"Your family…"

"What about them?"

"They're the reason I bet."

"For what now?" He was lost for a moment.

"Becoming a Titan," Raven explains.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Spades shrugs, "I had been affiliated with the original Teen Titans even before my parents passed away… I think if it was that obvious, I would have mentioned it earlier."

Raven ponders the topic for a moment, "I know _that_, but then maybe there are still pieces of your past that you too have forgotten… I mean, you didn't start your _own_ team until _after_ your parents died. And even before then… I still remember the troubled little kid you used to be…"

The wind picks up gently as Spades lets his emotion express its self for a moment. To emphasize the point, Spades quotes something from a favorite song of his, _"A little piece of paper with a picture drawn; floats on down the street 'til the wind is gone, and the memory now is like the picture was then. When the paper's crumpled up it can't be perfect again."_

"Where's that from?" Raven asks.

"Linkin Park. I'm surprised you're not a fan."

Raven scoffs a little, "I don't like Linkin Park…"

"What? Why not?"

"Their music sounds… cliché… Pointless…"

"It's not _cliché_! It's poetry! It speaks to you!"

"No, Edgar Poe is _poetry_… That's _emo_ music…" she snickers quietly.

They would continue to debate the topic all the way to the harbor. At the very least, it let Spades put his mind on other, less troubling matters.

Later, upon their arrival at the water's edge, Raven creates a disk made of dark energy for them to ride on. A moment afterwards, they step on board and take off from the pier, soaring out into the foggy harbor.

Spades sits down on the edge of the disk, partially because he was nervous about his balance on that thing, but mostly because he just wanted to rest. He let his feet hang off the side and meanwhile stares into the dark waves below.

Once again, Spades slips into nostalgia. He remembers years ago how his father used to take him deep-sea fishing on a boat called The Captain's Lady. However, as the years passed, Spades accompanied his father less and less often on these trips, until finally he stopped going all together. He always had an excuse for missing these trips. Now, Spades regreted all those times he had declined. If he had known the fate of his parents back then, he'd never have turned a single offer down…

Avro once again began to infect his thoughts, _"Do you remember these days, Spades? Do you remember the loving embrace of your mother and father?"_

Spades's attitude deteriorated even further. He did not reply to Avro.

"_Dwell not upon foolish pipe dreams, and instead see the truth for what it is. You shall never be able to right these wrongs. Accept it. Was it not what the Raven told you? You will be __**stronger.**__"_

"Avro, you know as well as I do that isn't what she meant."

"_Well, if it is not, then __**you**__ know as well as __**I**__ that she deceives you. Have you not yet learned to see through the white lies? Only in shadow and sorrow lay the revolting truth."_

In the mean time, the dark silhouette of Titans Tower appears through the dense fog. Again, a structure in the shape of a gigantic T, but the original tower was a mere quarter size of the complex Titans North inhabited. On the other hand, the residents who once lived here owned the _entire_ building and all the property of the island. Some of the facility even extended underground with storage facilities, and submarine hangars leading into the ocean. Spades had nothing like that for his tower yet.

They land on the rooftop. Raven looks over to Spades as he steps off the energy disk. She tells him, "You seem distressed…"

"It's just Avro," Spades explains to her.

Raven sighs deeply, "Don't listen to him…"

"He's not saying anything you haven't already."

Raven just shakes her head a little, "If you're going to willfully let yourself share a body with a demon, fine, but _you_ are in control. Don't forget that."

"What harms me harms Avro as well, remember _that_ Raven," he reminds her with some attitude.

Raven tries to argue with him, but instead lets out another faint sigh. She walks through a service entry from the rooftop into the tower.

Spades follows her down. In a matter of minutes, and a few darkened corridors later, they arrive in the living room of the tower.

It was dark and dreary, the only light source being from the large window in the front of the room which took up the entire wall. It normally oversaw the harbor, but today it is filled only with a view of the dim, gray light that managed to penetrate through the blinding thick of fog.

On the couch, there was someone sleeping. There were a couple pizza boxes here and there, open and empty, while the kitchen area directly attached to the living room was dirty and disorganized.

Spades notices Raven has left his side. He looks around, calling for a moment, "Raven?" He spots her down by the figure on the couch.

Raven shakes it softly. The figure snores and mumbles something incoherent. She uses her telekinesis to remove the blankets, and then flicks the figure in the back of the head. "Cyborg, get up."

Cyborg snorts and sits upright, "WHA!?—oh, it's you guys." He yawns widely, standing up sleepily. "Hold on man, let me get the lights." Cyborg opened up a digital display on his arm, clicking a couple buttons, and one of the lights finally lit up the room. With his full body in view, Spades could see the familiar million dollar man he once knew.

Cyborg was a tall, muscular, bulky African-American superhero whose body was both man and machine. His arms and legs were all cybernetic components, gears and hydraulics, wires, plastic and steel. His torso looked more like sci-fi armor you'd expect to see on some futuristic soldier. His face was the most human part about his appearance, and even that was corrupted by technology with a human face of dark brown skin on the right side, and a metal one made of chrome and plastic with a glowing red optic sensor on the left, in place of his missing eye.

Still, Cyborg had a very friendly attitude which one usually associates with humans alone. His voice and perky personality was as lively as Spades remembers, although Cyborg himself had aged.

Spades smiles, "It's good to see you again Victor. How long has it been? Four years?"

Cyborg chuckles, "Why you always call me Victor man? Don't be shy! You can call me Cy! So, whussup?"

Spades replies, "A bit of training with Raven, just visiting some of the old sights in the meantime. I thought we'd drop by, say hello."

Raven meanwhile opens up his fridge for something to eat. Cyborg and Spades hear a gag, shortly before the refrigerator door slams closed. Raven complains, "Is there _anything_ eatable here?"

Cyborg points to the coffee table, "Some leftover pizza crust," he laughs. "It's just a day or two old."

Raven looks at it for a moment. She could swear she saw something move. "I'll… pass."

Cyborg asks Spades now, "What about you? Want anything?"

"Nah," Spades says, "I'm only staying for a moment to visit… What happened to this place anyway?"

Cyborg's warm smile faded—something that almost never happened, "Well… You know what happened when Robin left. Or should I say _Nightwing_!" he says mockingly, angrily, "In any case, the place has gotten a little rundown. Not like anyone lives here anymore, so it's not like it matters."

Spades couldn't help but feel saddened by the fate of this tower, which was once a haven in a world that didn't understand his kind. "A shame…" he mutters, the only thing he could say at this point. Suddenly though, his cell phone started ringing. Spades reaches into his pocket to answer it. The call was from Leyla.

"Jer, where are you?" she asks him, "We're all going to bed. Well, except Triard… He's finally getting _up_… lazy bum…" she mutters the last part under her breath, though kidding around.

"Oh, sorry. I'll be home soon. I was out west with Raven. I met Cyborg while I was here."

"Oh! Tell Cy I said hello!" Leyla exclaims happily.

Cyborg chuckles, having overheard, "Tell her I said hi! Oh, that reminds me I gotta come over in a few days and help fix the power grid in your tower."

Spades smiles, "That's good to hear. Thanks Victor." He then continues with Leyla, "Cyborg says hi too. Anyway, I'll be home in a few minutes."

"Alright. Love you Jer!"

"Love you too, Leyla. Talk to you later." He hangs up, and then turns to Raven and Cyborg, "I'll see you two again on a later date I suppose. You're free to visit Titans North any time."

Raven nods, smiling faintly once again, "We'll look forward to it."

Spades finally takes his leave, turning toward the door. The edges of the doorway illuminate with reds and oranges, and the door swings open swirling in flames. He proceeds on through, and begins his short walk home through the abyss.

Still, a lingering thought remains—a fear of his. Avro eventually asks him, _"And what is to become of your team? Nothing lasts forever… Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The sands in the hourglass do not fall from an infinite supply."_

Spades did his best to ignore the words, but Avro was right… What if one day, his tower is empty as well? His friends gone, his team dissolved, and himself… _alone_. Spades quickly pushes the thought out of his head. He had already lost his first family. 'Nevermore,' he thought. "Never again…" he said.


	6. This Is Halloween

**This is Halloween**

A week and three nights had gone by, and at last Hallow's Eve had come to Massachusetts. Spades and his team, with nothing else to do, traveled to the famous city of Salem for the holiday. Once the epicenter of witch trials in the late 17th century, it was now a much more peaceful town, even a tourist attraction with its rich history. However, every year on Halloween, the residents of the city did their best to live up to their nickname of The Witch City. Every year, provided that one can evade the massive crowds, the celebration across the entire town often dwarfed that of almost any other in the United States. Here, the Halloween spirit, evident all year round, was believed to be at its climax every October.

As the teenaged superheroes depart from the Commuter Rail train station, Zero can be heard singing, _"This is Halloween! This is Halloween! Pumpkins screaming in the dead of night! This is Hallow—"_

"BE QUIET!!" Leyla snaps at him, "Oh my **God** that song has been stuck in my head **all day!**" she groans.

Zero laughs, "What? I like the song!"

"It's nice after the first _thousand_ times, but it's getting annoying!" she complains.

Spades looks over toward Leyla, "You not get enough sleep last night?"

She simply lets out another frustrated groan, nodding, and then burying her face in Spades's shoulder.

Spades tries not to laugh. Instead, he lifts his cape up to pull her underneath where it was warm.

Leyla turns into a rabbit and makes Spades carry her. She lets out a muffled squeak.

Zero translates, "She says wake her up when the trick-or-treating starts."

Triard snickers a little, "I think we freaked her out last night." He stretches his bat-like wings and grins.

Zero laughs, "Yea, we pulled an _awesome_ prank on her! See, I turned into a swarm of bats and hid in her closet, and Triard locked her in her room, and I jumped out at her, and—"

Spades interrupts, "I don't want to hear anything more of it, Zero. Let Leyla rest."

Zero exclaims, "But it was funny! And Triard pretended to be a vampire, and—"

Triard chuckles a little, "I think he gets it Zero."

Leyla jumps out of Spades's arms and turns back to normal. "I couldn't sleep at ALL last night because of you idiots!"

Zero snickers and nudges Spades, "I doubt she got much better sleep in _your_ room either…"

Both Spades and Leyla's cheeks lit up bright red when Zero said that. They both reply in unison, "It's not what you think!"

Triard snickers, _"Bow-chicka-wow-wow."_

Spades was getting a little aggravated now, "End the topic this instant," he orders them.

Triard calms down, trying to contain his laughter. "Sorry dude, we're just fooling…"

"Don't," Spades tells him.

Leyla turns into a kitten this time. Spades kneels down to pick her up and hold her in his arms, letting her purr and fall asleep there.

They continue onward into the city until the streets started getting more and more crowded. Despite the large volume of people, this was actually _less_ attendance than usual for Salem's celebrations. However, they also had a friend to meet who lived here, giving them the fortune of avoiding the otherwise chaotic nature of the city on such an evening.

At an old Gothic-style home in one of the residential areas of town, there was a girl in an all-black dress with a jack-o-lantern in her hands. She appears slightly older than Spades, maybe in her early twenties or very late teens. Her hair was dark brown, and her skin was light. She wore a pentagram on her neck, and rings on her fingers.

Spades smiles and calls over, "Serena!"

The girl looks up, and a broad smile came over her face. "Spades!!" she exclaims in a playful, bubbly voice. She runs at him and tackles him to the ground with a hug. "_I missed youuuuu!_ How've you been? What's up? Who're your friends?" She was an easily excitable girl.

Poor Leyla was crushed in between them. She yelps and hisses before turning into a snake to escape them. Once she was back out, she turns back to normal, "… Can I have my _boyfriend_ back?" she asks, frustrated. Spades had once dated Serena, so there was always this tension between the two girls.

Serena got up, "Sorry…" she giggles, "Leyla, how've you been?"

"Tired…" she mumbles, though putting herself between Serena and Spades unconsciously.

Serena gives Leyla a hug, "Aww, come inside! I can make you some hot soup."

Leyla groans softly, her cranky state giving her the urge to turn into a bear and maul her, but she thought maybe the soup might calm her nerves. "I guess…"

Spades gets off the ground and brushes himself off. Some crumpled leaves had gotten stuck to his cape, but he easily pushes them off.

Zero and Triard walk past him. Spades soon follows everyone else into the old house. It was a warm, cozy little home, two floors tall with the inclusion of both an attic and a basement.

There were a small set of stone steps to the entrance which led directly into the living room. There was a fireplace as well, which was burning with the sweet smell of pine wood, and the house was decorated with all manner of traditional, hand-made Halloween ornaments. Very little of it was plastic or commercialized.

Serena was in fact a witch. Rather, she was a half-witch, daughter of a pureblood sorceress mother and a mortal father. As she grew older, she had grown more strongly attached to her spell-caster heritage than even her mother, eventually going to the extent of joining a Covenant. As a result, her abilities had become much more powerful than her mother's were. Much of the home was either charmed or decorated in one way or another by her enchanted hand for the holiday occasion.

By the time Spades is inside, Serena returns from the kitchen with Leyla behind her. Leyla looks like she was feeling better now that she had a steaming hot bowl of soup to wake her up. Serena tells her, apparently having been in the middle of a conversation, "So you couldn't sleep?"

"Yea, those idiots ruined a good dream I was having too," she pouts as she sits down on the sofa.

Serena smirks, "Well don't you worry… We'll get them back tonight…" she grinned darkly, and began to cackle like a true witch.

This caught Zero and Triard both by startling surprise. Zero simply exclaims, "The f—k?"

Spades tries to conceal his laughter. He knew the two boys were either cursed now, or they would be soon. "Anyways, Serena, what's up?" he asks her as he sits down.

"The ceiling!" she jokes with Spades as she sets down a bowl of candy corn. She took a seat a foot or two away from Spades. "How's scaly butt?" she asks, giggling as she refers to Avro. The two boys meanwhile lock their eyes on the bowl, and immediately begin snacking.

Avro responds quietly, embarrassed, _"Dare you call me that again, and I swear I will rip your throat out."_

Serena giggles, "D'awww, he's cranky." She pulls Spades into a tight hug against her chest.

Spades flails around a bit, "Serena, you can 'cuddle' Avro later. Can I have my head back now?" he couldn't help but laugh.

Serena meanwhile releases Spades, which let Avro vent his frustration, _"I am not a pet to be cuddled…" _though his voice remained calm toward Serena. Meanwhile, Leyla tugs Spades back toward her and nuzzles his shoulder.

Spades smiles and pulls Leyla under his arm. "Best leave Avro be, Serena. You know how he gets."

Serena snickers, "He's just a big teddy bear."

Zero meanwhile tries to stop eating. His eyes then turn back toward the candy corn. He scoops up another handful and devours it. "I… I can't stop!"

Triard realized what Serena did to them. He too tried to resist the candy, but he just started stuffing his face again.

Spades observes, "Addiction spell?" he asks Serena.

"Yup! That'll ruin their Halloween night," she grins. "Hope you appreciate the favor, Leyla."

Zero's eyes widen, "WHAT?!" He smothers himself with another handful of candy corn, gulping it down hard, "We'll be full of this crap before we can even get any _good_ candy!"

Serena snickers, "I don't care, more chocolate for us!"

Spades just smiles and looks to Leyla, "You feeling better love?"

Leyla nods, having finished half the soup bowl, "I am." She snuggles up beside Spades and murrs softly before turning back into a rabbit to curl up on his lap.

Spades chuckles and looks up to Serena again, "So, what's the plan for tonight?"

Serena glances down at Leyla, then back to Spades. "Well, when the sun sets, we'll go to the Witch Museum. Trick-or-Treating starts pretty soon, but I'll leave the candy outside for the kids. You know, with one of those 'take one' signs over it?"

Leyla turns back to normal to speak to Serena, sitting on Spades's lap, "That's kinda dumb… They'll probably just take all of it. I mean… that's what _I'd_ do…" she mumbles quietly.

"That's why I've put a curse on the bowl, and a few ornaments around it…"

Spades chuckles, "I see where this is going."

Leyla blinks, "Is it gonna jump out at me—_I mean_ the bad trick-or-treaters?"

"You'll find out…" Serena grins.

Zero suddenly cries out, "The agony! Please, make it stop!! I feel like I'm gonna **explode!!**"

Triard's stomach was already swollen, "I think I'm going to hurl…" he complains, even as the magic forces him to pick up another handful. "Please… no more! No more!" The bowl of candy corn had an infinite supply thanks to spell's effect.

Serena snaps her fingers. A spark of magic darts toward the two boys, and Serena tells them, "There. Quit your bellyaching." She giggles at her own pun.

"Finally!" Zero exclaims. He turns into a snake and slithers under the couch where it's safe. A stretchy body allowed him to handle the candy without throwing up. He suddenly felt stupid for having not done that in the first place.

Triard on the other hand wasn't so lucky. Finally, he stands up and stumbles across the room. "Bathroom?!"

Serena sighs, "Down the hall, to the right…"

Triard runs away as quickly as he can.

Leyla grins vengefully, "Serves you both right!"

Spades chuckles softly, "Well… Halloween should start in a couple hours. Everyone go get ready. Serena, you still have our costumes?"

Serena smiles, "Of course I do!" She stands up and waves her hands through the air. A shower of neon blue magic sparks began to scatter across the room.

Zero feels himself pulled out from underneath the bed by an unknown force. Startled, he turns back to his human form as a black cape appears around him with red cloth underneath. His teeth became fanged, his hair black with gray streaks, and his jumpsuit turned into an old Romanian royal clothe set. Observing his new appearance, he let out a fake evil laugh, "Mwahahaha!! I've come to suck your blood!" he hisses at Leyla.

Spades promptly smacks him, "Zero, cut it out."

Triard meanwhile, who was walking back from the restrooms, is also affected by the magic. The fur of his body starts getting longer, his ears change shape, and his tail turns from a fox's bushy tail gains a longer, thinner, canine appearance. His claws sharpen, his jeans shred near the bottom, and his wings finally disappear. Triard looks more wolf than a fox now. "Cool!" He lets out a hair-raising howl to test his new werewolf voice.

Soon after, Spades watches the magic surround him. His cape blackens and his hair darkens. His eyes turn red, and an object appears in his hand. It began to glow bright crimson, until the clear shape of a fake lightsaber. Being a Star Wars fan, Spades was going as a Sith Lord.

Then, Leyla's clothing turn into a traditional Japanese dress called a kimono in a violet hue. Her hair meanwhile ties its self into a bun, and her shoes are replaced with wooden block sandals. She was going out as some Japanese comic book character Spades had never heard of.

Finally, Serena's costume comes together. A simple pointy witch's hat appears on her head, and matching black high-heel shoes on her feet with long striped tube socks up her legs underneath the long dress.

Leyla looks Serena up and down, "Sooo… what's the difference?"

Serena says, "I'm a witch!"

Leyla asks, "I thought you were supposed to go as something unusual… I mean; something you're _not_ on a normal day."

Serena responds, "I know. I don't use my powers except during emergencies and on Halloween," she smiles broadly.

Leyla can't help but roll her eyes, figuring Serena just didn't get it.

Spades chuckles and starts swinging around the lightsaber. "Everyone all set?"

"Candy!" Zero exclaims.

Triard groans painfully, "How can you still think about candy? I'm just going to go join the party in town…"

Spades laughs, "Let's get going then. Titans, move out!"

Meanwhile in the center of town, a very tall, slender man with a straw hat and wooden cane strolls through the city square. He had been placing pumpkins throughout the celebration from a sack he carried with him. However, there was a shady, suspicious aura to him. Salem had its share of creeps on Hallow's Eve, but something in particular was off about this man; his maniacal grin, the glazed look of a madman in his eyes… Festivities were about to begin. A stage was set, a band ready to play, and the crowd was already arriving for the night. Jack-o-Lanterns illuminate the streets, and the trick-or-treaters start pouring out of their homes.

The clock was ticking to dusk, while the man in the straw hat just continues waltzing along in the shadows, humming to himself a tune; '_This is Halloween_.'


	7. King of the Pumpkin Patch, Part 1

**King of the Pumpkin Patch; Part 1**

The man in the straw hat sets down his last pumpkin and lets out a quiet, but insane cackle. Formerly known as Jonathan Crane, this prior attendant of Gotham University was once a prized student of psychology under Professor Avram Bramowitz. However, despite such great potential for a future career, the abuse Jonathan suffered in years' past had finally caught up to him. Jonathan was a tortured soul, a bullied child, an innocent victim, or so he once was, because now he was one of the most twisted criminals of the day, comparable even to the Joker himself, the arch-nemesis of the caped crusader. He even murdered his Professor mentor when greed got the best of him, as he wanted Bramowitz's position more than anything at the time.

However, Jonathan was far from his home (or rather, his prison cell) in Gotham City. His fascination with Halloween and all things frightful had brought him out to the east coast, to the city of Salem, where he planned on stirring up some chaos, all with impunity. Batman was still in Gotham, and New England wasn't quite known for superheroes patrolling the streets.

"Oh, this evening is going to be _grand!_" he exclaims, fiddling with his spiny long fingers and holding a tall cane between his hands. The bag of pumpkins was now empty, and only a tattered mask remained inside, made out of what seemed to be an old potato sack with eye holes cut in it.

Jonathan reached into the sack and pulled out the mask, then removes his straw hat to let his wild, poorly groomed blonde hair sprawl upon his head. He pulls the mask on, and then puts his hat back in its place. He took on a new, frightening form. Jonathan Crane was in fact the enigmatic super villain known simply as the _Scarecrow_. Each and every one of those pumpkins he had set down was a vessel, carrying a toxic nerve agent which he was going to unleash on the population. It was a chemical of his design, intended to force the deepest, darkest, and most twisted fears come to life in the mind of those contaminated. There must have been a hundred of these pumpkins in the city square, and now thousands of people were filling the old town.

Spades and the Titans North finally arrive in the middle of Salem where the festivities were just starting. Spades figures they're better off in costume so no one recognized them, or else they'd end up being the topic of controversy. Tonight though, Spades and his team were allowed to wander freely for once because of their holiday disguises.

Some time had passed by now, and since trick-or-treating had begun, and they had hit every house along the way here. Zero was dragging a bag of candy behind him which was even larger than he was. He'd done this by using his powers to create clones of himself to collect from multiple houses at once. Leyla meanwhile also had a sizable supply of her own, though she had traded much of it with Zero in exchange for her favorites. Triard meanwhile walks in the back of the group, the only one who hadn't gotten a single bite of sweets. After the events earlier in the evening, he had no interest. The thought of eating _anything_ made him feel ill. Even Spades had some candy, though Serena had been continuously stealing Hershey's bars from him when he wasn't looking.

As they wander into the more densely packed parts of the crowd, there was a band playing upon the center stage. It was some underground garage metal-rock band no one had ever heard of. The name didn't matter anyway; the music was all that was important.

Zero started dancing along with the music for a moment, but then it stops. "Hey! I was listening to that!"

The lead singer of the band takes the microphone, "Thank you all for coming out! We'll be playing again in an hour!!"

The crowd lets out a good cheer as the band steps off the stage to go join in the festivities for themselves.

Spades wasn't much a fan of the music. It sounded too hardcore 'scream-o' for him, a genre that wasn't his taste. He didn't say anything, but he was glad it was over. Instead, he listened in as a more generic Halloween song began.

Serena meanwhile asks Spades, "Remember when we used to go out on Halloween? So romantic… You should take Leyla to the graveyard."

Spades chuckles quietly, "A graveyard? Hardly my idea of romantic… However, I suppose it _would_ be much quieter and calmer than everything else going on here."

Leyla overhears and hugs Spades affectionately by the arm. "We could always just take a walk in the park at night."

Spades smiles and gives her a light kiss before they both let their attention return to the festival.

Meanwhile, a lone figure walks onto the stage. It is a tall, spiny man with bits of hay sticking out of his shirt and trench coat sleeves. He carried a tall sickle, and his head is shrouded beneath a pointy straw hat.

Leyla spots the man, "Oh, I thought they were done playing…"

Serena says, "He's just an announcer guy… probably come to tell us some idiot his car lights on. Does he look like a singer to you?"

Leyla frowns, but falls short of a response.

The voice comes onto the intercom, a cheery, spirited voice that was certainly fit for the season. "Ladies and Gentlemen… We interrupt our scheduled agenda for an _important_ bulletin…" He clicks a button on a remote during his speech, and suddenly more music began to play, a metal version of the song _'This Is Halloween,'_ played by Marilyn Manson. The man on stage lets out a light, but evident cackle as several pyrotechnics go off in the background, unleashing an eerie green smoke. "_**Happy Halloween**_Salem…" he laughs before stepping away from the microphone. The crowd cheers, and then begins dancing.

Serena smiles, "Ohhh! I love that song!"

Spades rolls his eyes, "This song is incredibly overused this time of year…"

Leyla danced despite Spades's protests and even bumps hips with him, trying to convince him to play along. "Come on! Mosh with me!" she said jokingly.

Zero smirks, "I'll mosh!!" He turns into a Rhino.

Leyla screams, "Not you idiot!"

Spades suddenly interrupts, "Hold on, I hear something…" He grabs Leyla's shoulder.

Up ahead, at the front of the crowd, the cheers and moshing started to become strangely quiet. For a moment, the chatter dies down to almost a whisper, and instead only the loud music could be heard.

Spades began to look a little nervous. He tells the others while still staring through the crowd, "Something's going on…"

Serena's eyes perk up, "I've never heard them this quiet before… Is there a fight going on?"

Zero yells out, **"FIIIIGHT!"**

Spades smacks him off the back of the head for that outburst. "Stop being a fool. Pay attention." Spades knew it was something more than a petty fist fight.

A few more seconds go by, and they soon hear a single scream. Leyla's eyes widened, "Is someone hurt?"

Serena mentions, "It could have happened in the mosh…"

"I don't think it has anything to do with the mosh," Leyla remarks. "If it was, no one would care."

Then they began to hear more screams. Spades turns to Triard, "You, quickly, fly above this crowd and see what's going on! Serena, turn him back to normal first!"

Serena mutters something and waves her hands, causing a bolt of magic to strike Triard and turn him back into the fox anthro with bat wings he normally was.

Triard instantly takes off. He circles overhead for a moment until someone screeches, "_**Monster**__!_" and hit Triard with what looked like a shoe.

Triard quickly retreats, holding his forehead, "Ow… Everyone's freaking out, and it's spreading."

Serena stares at the crowd ahead of them, "That isn't normal… And this is Salem! On Halloween! Do you have _any_ idea what _**abnormal**_ this time of year is?!" She began to appear very uneasy.

Spades throws his plastic lightsaber aside and tells Serena, "Change us all back! Now!"

"Ok, ok!" Serena hurls another glowing neon ball of energy at them. This one detonates in a flash of light, engulfing all of them. When it fades, they were all back to their normal superhero forms.

Immediately, Spades takes command, "Titans North, find out what is causing this and end it!"

Suddenly though, someone just a couple rows up starts screaming and attacking anyone around them in a frenzy. Then, more shrieks of terror, and more frantic melee. Finally, that green haze creeps through the crowd in front of them like a disease.

At least Spades got his answer to what was causing this. He had to divert the cloud immediately. Waving his arms, he calls in a wave of wind with his aerokinesis, pushing the strange gasses away from the group. However, the thick cloud soon surrounds them and was soon to overrun them.

"You three, fly out of here!" he tells Leyla, Triard, and Zero. "Serena, if you have any spells to keep yourself shielded from this gas, use it now!"

"I don't though!" Serena replies, panicking.

Leyla groans, "Triard, Zero, get her out of here!" She turns to Spades, "What about you?"

"Go and search for the source of this gas and eliminate it. I'll try to help control the crowd and confront who's responsible."

Zero gawks, "Oh sure, fight the bad guys _all by yourself_ again…"

Spades glares, "That was an order, Zero. You can complain later!"

Just then a swarm of panicked bystanders charge at Spades and the others. Zero turns into a pterodactyl to snatch up Serena, while Leyla turns into a crow to fly away with Triard following soon after. Leyla turns back though, not wanting to leave Spades behind. She lands again and tells him, "I'm staying. You're not doing this alone."

"Fine," he reluctantly agrees, "But don't get hurt Leyla."

Leyla smirks, "You worry too much Jer."

Spades smiles slightly, "I always do." His smile disappeared as quickly as it came though, returning to the seriousness of the situation.

Leyla turns into a hippo and stands in front of Spades, blocking the crowd as they stampede past.

Once the bulk of the terrified crowd had gone, Spades tells Leyla, "I want you to lookout from above. Be my eye in the sky, but don't get involved unless I say so."

Leyla obeys, turning into a hawk and flying up overhead. She leaves Spades on the ground as witness to a barren open lot, still covered in litter.

A single man stands next to the stage, laughing to himself… It was the man in a straw hat again, still holding his tall scythe. Now, Spades could see the ragged mask covering his face. The man looks up at Spades, tilting his hat back to grin. "Aren't you _afraid_?"

Spades chuckles, "Fear is an illusion."

"How very observant," the man leans on the edge of the stage, watching Spades.

Spades continues, "However, I want to know what obvious responsibility you hold for these events. First off, who are you?" Spades begins walking toward the man in the straw hat.

"Me? Oh… I go by many names… Ichabod, Strawface, Jack _**Skellington**_..!" the man sneers suddenly, but then his voice calms, "However… You may call me Scarecrow. It's my _favorite_ of all!" he cackles sarcastically.

Spades frowns, "Surely there is something more respectable than that I can call you by." Spades always tried to negotiate instead of fighting, and he was trying to humanize Scarecrow. "I'm sure we can talk this out peacefully. What is your name?" he questions again.

"Jonathan Crane is my true name not that anyone _**cares!**_" he spat, becoming more aggressive for a second time, but once again he became calm a moment after. For a moment he sighs before his voice picks up again, "And now, _ohhh_ yes, we can 'talk' if you like, but don't expect any peace!" he growls, "Everyone is going to _suffer_ for what they put me through! Including **you** kid!"

"I doubt anyone here has anything to do with what pains you may have endured," Spades reasons, "And I assure you, I mean you no harm if you'll cooperate."

"I'm_ afraid_ that doesn't matter now, kid!" he laughs again, "I came here to _twist_ the night in my favor, and I've only just **begun!**"

"But what are you doing to frighten the people?" Spades asks, again trying to calm him. Spades glances up at the skies to make sure Leyla was still there, and then returns his attention to this lunatic.

Scarecrow looks upward to spot Leyla. He grins and picks up a small pumpkin decorated with a broken smile drawn upon its face, "Come a little closer, and I'll happily show you…"


	8. King of the Pumpkin Patch, Part 2

**King of the Pumpkin Patch; Part 2**

Spades wouldn't dare take a step further, but Scarecrow still threw down the small pumpkin-shaped bulb. It bursts open as if it was made of thin glass, and a thick cloud of sickly green fumes pours out in all directions.

Scarecrow grins, "Laugh at me!? I'll give you something to **laugh** about!!" he yells out manically.

Spades obviously had done no such thing, but it wasn't hard to come to the conclusion that all bets on negotiation were off. Spades again uses his aerokinesis to try pushing the thick gasses away, but this time they were already swirling around him. The breeze used to push one cloud away only sucks in another. Spades inhales a lungful of the strange gasses. He immediately starts coughing and tries backing out of the cloud.

It was too late. Spades could feel the toxins starting to take effect. He looked up to the skies where he saw Leyla diving in to help. He yells up at her, "**NO!** Stay where you are!!" Spades didn't want her to suffer the effects of these chemical fumes, whatever they were.

Leyla reluctantly pulls up, watching helplessly from above. She hated it when Spades did things like this, because she was quite capable of taking care of herself. Still, she obeyed the order for now.

Meanwhile, Spades felt himself starting to tremble uncontrollably. He breaks out into a cold sweat. His heart begins pounding while adrenaline poisons his blood, and his eyes begin to dilate. His world begins spiraling wildly around him. Halloween decorations start to look all-too realistic. The moon glows brightly as a jagged, grinning face appears upon it. The stars fade away from sight, turning the skies black while the screams of a young child began ringing in Spades's ears, followed by a dark laughter from Scarecrow himself.

Scarecrow walks fourth through the darkness until Spades could see him. Now, Scarecrow's eyes glow bright red. His flesh had rotten, and his scythe had become stained in scarlet. He looms over Spades with a sick smile on his face.

Spades scrambles back, but stumbles over something snagging his leg. What he thought was his cape had been replaced by a screeching banshee of a monster. Out of a panic, Spades tears it away and tries to run.

Scarecrow lets out a high-pitched cackle, "Running away _already_!? I haven't even **started**!!"

Suddenly, Spades is forced to stop when a wall of fire illuminates the path in front of him to cut him off. He turns to run in another direction, but the flames block all routes of escape.

Spades attempts to use his pyrokinesis to manipulate the blaze in his favor, but instead it lashes out at him and scorches the hand attempting to control it. He then saw Scarecrow in the background as he leapt high into the air. Using his razor sharp scythe, Scarecrow slashes Leyla's wing, causing her to plummet to the earth.

She screamed as she fell through the smoke and into the fire. Somehow, Spades was able to watch this, but felt like the earth beneath him had turned to hot tar, preventing him from coming to her rescue.

Scarecrow approaches Leyla, who had changed back when she hit the ground. He lifts the scythe into the air, and brings the sharp blade down on Leyla to impale her through the stomach.

She let out a horrific scream. Spades's own cry of helplessness dwarfed it even still. "**LEYLA!!**" he screams out.

Leyla's body was soon engulfed in flames, burning her alive. She screams and thrashes, as if unable to die.

Scarecrow appears from a new direction, walking toward Spades now, "This is what you fear? Is that all? I bet there's _more_. Let's prod that subconscious of your a little…" He jabs Spades in the side of the head with the blunt end of his scythe. "Show me what makes you tick!" He drags the scythe along the ground away from Spades, intentionally sending up sparks.

Spades gets up and tries to punch Scarecrow in the face, but Scarecrow only grabs him and twists his arm back to pin him against the ground again. Scarecrow reaches forward with a mechanism hidden up his sleeve. Using the mechanism, Scarecrow gives Spades a high dosage of the serum.

The moment Spades inhaled it, that was it… His world twists violently. A fatal dizziness overwhelms him, and everything around him fades from existence as he enters a trance. Then, he reappears outside a familiar home.

He recognized this place. It was his old house, located in a town called Methuen. Suddenly though, the house begins to smoke, and then it begins to burn. Emergency vehicles appear outside, and a police barricade stops Spades from getting any closer to the building in flames. He could see firemen, and he could hear screams of agony inside. Someone yells out his old name, "Jeremy!!" It didn't take long for him to realize what was happening. Was that his mother screaming his name? Was she in that inferno? Spades lost all rational thought in this moment, and started screaming for his family.

Firemen were evacuating the building and charging out the doorway. Someone was yelling at them, "It's coming down! It's coming down!"

Spades looks up at the police officer blocking his path. "Let me by!"

The officer didn't even acknowledge Spades's presence.

Spades tries to run past instead, but someone grabs him. Spades thrashes frantically and screams, "_Mom!! Dad!!_" Just then, the house buckles along the middle of the roof before it collapses to the ground. Sparks and smoke erupt from the ruins, and Spades can only hear the voice of a young boy screaming for his parents, _begging_ for their safety. The smell of burning flesh mixed in with the scent of charred wood fills the air. He didn't realize for some time that the screaming boy was in fact _him_. Now, Spades had a third-person perspective of himself, a sixteen year old boy, a mere child in most aspects, being wrestled to the ground by police officers trying to stop him from a suicide run into the falling house.

The flames then lash out in all directions, like serpents from Hell. The skies turn black with smoke. The police officer, the neighborhood, and the entire world around him would vanish. He feels something restraining him, shaking him, and someone again yelling his name. "Jeremy! Jeremy!" The words echo into the distance.

Spades flails around and pushes away from the grip of the phantom figure. "Let me go!!" he yells, attempting to strike the figure when three more suddenly appear and hold him down. Something is forced over his mouth, smothering him at first. The flames around him became more and more intense until he could feel his flesh bubbling and searing. The dizziness worsens. He couldn't feel the ground beneath him. He feels like he's falling, plummeting into a new world where he could see Titans North Tower **engulfed** in an inferno above him! Spades tries to scream, but to no avail.

Suddenly Spades felt a clean breath of air enter his lungs despite the object that was previously suffocating him. His horrific surroundings began to fade and dissolve as a result. Instead of seeing a phantom, Leyla was kneeling over him. The expression on her face was filled with such great worry that she was in tears. "Jeremy! It's ok! We're not going to hurt you!"

Spades returns to reality in minutes. That whole time, those events, even watching Leyla _die_, it was all just an illusion induced by the noxious fumes. The object that was covering his mouth was in fact an oxygen mask, allowing his body to have a moment to start clearing out the chemicals infecting his system. He eventually starts to calm down and his heart rate returns to normal. Though his body still tingles with adrenaline and he was shaking like a leaf, he knew the sensation would subside.

Leyla leans over Spades, holding the oxygen mask to his face while Serena and Triard were holding him down. They had to do so while a paramedic properly treated him of several burns and a slash across his stomach from the scythe. With his nerves calm again, however, Spades wasn't struggling or flailing as he had been moments ago. Serena and Triard were able to release him.

Spades is amazed at the damage done. He _had_ indeed suffered the pain of a few burns, but no more. He never felt the silver blade even graze him, let alone inflict such a bloody gash across his body!

The paramedic tells Spades, surprised to see him awake, "You were bleeding badly. Lay back down."

Spades obeys, figuring he had little choice. He asks Leyla, "Where's Jonathan?"

"Who?"

"The Scarecrow…"

"… He got away," Leyla sighs, "The police are looking for him…"

Spades suddenly overhears Zero yelling at one of the officers responding to the event. Spades makes an effort to sit up, but Leyla pushes him back down. Spades asks, "Leyla, what the hell is Zero doing?"

Leyla grumbles, "Bitching out the cops I think."

"Make him stop…" Spades groans, "He's going to make this so much worse than it has to be!" Spades had a feeling the remaining evening was about to hit the fan.

Leyla tells Triard, "Go get him, before he screws up."

Triard nods and rises to his feet in order to go subdue Zero. Suddenly, they hear the sound of an angry elephant. Spades looks up to see Zero stomping the roof in of a police car. Leyla jumps up to yell, "ZERO! The f—k are you doing?!"

Triard swoops in to restrain Zero, but Zero turns into a Gorilla and punches him away.

Spades had seen enough. He pushes the paramedic off, telling Leyla and Serena to help him get up. He was still fairly injured. Spades knew that this was incredibly stupid, knowing he might lose more blood if a fight ensued, but they had to stop Zero's madness.

Reluctantly, the girls help Spades to his feet. He stumbles slightly, but Spades is soon walking toward Zero with the girls' assistance. Spades yells at him, "**STAND DOWN!!**"

Zero turns himself back to normal, laughing stupidly. "Cops think they can arrest me?! Huhhh?! I'm a fricken _superhero_! I can do what I _want_!!"

Spades realizes, "He's having a mental breakdown." Spades figures it's either the chemicals or the stress of the event warping the already unstable functions of his brain. "Triard, Leyla, restrain him! Serena, help me get a portal ready." They need to escape the scene quickly. A mob was forming around them as angry onlookers begin cussing out Zero for his outburst.

Serena lends energy to Spades as he starts chanting, _"Patefacio prolixus porta of abyssus!"_

A swirling portal of flame and cinder opens up through the ground. Triard and Leyla wrestle Zero into the portal and drag him home to the tower. However, the moment the portal closes again, leaving Spades and Serena alone, he hears someone yell, **"SATAN SPAWN!!"** and a beer bottle is hurled in their direction.

Spades sidesteps it as it smashes into the ground a couple feet away. He became only more aggravated upon hearing those words. _So much for being inconspicuous,_ he thought. Now the city of Salem was in a rage at him and his team. They thought this whole thing was _their_ fault. Most of them don't even realize Scarecrow was even here. Spades knows better than to try and quell the situation… He'd risk starting an all out riot otherwise. Instead, he turns to leave, opening a second, smaller portal.

Serena meanwhile transforms herself into a black cat with her magic and darts through the crowd, escaping the angry mob before things turn violent.

Hours later, after a hospital visit, Spades returns to the tower. He charges through the doorway into the living room where Zero was sitting cross-legged on the couch, frowning, and quiet. Leyla was yelling at him for his unbelievable behavior when Spades declares, "**Enough!** Dimitri, I demand a _damned good_ explanation for why I saw Massachusetts _State Police_ trying to haul you off!!"

Triard hands Spades a small gemstone pendant. "We found this in his pocket. He stole it from some shop during the panic."

Spades clutches the pendant in his hand before whipping it across the room in a rage, but he tries to keep his voice low, "You _stole_ it? One of _my_ Titans, a petty _thief_? Preposterous! Dimitri, why don't you tell me what _really_ happened?" Spades asks sarcastically. Part of Avro's voice became mixed in with Spades when he spoke, which occurred only when Spades was extremely angry.

Zero spat, "My name's not f—king Dimitri! It's Zero! Call me f—king Zero!!"

"Your new criminal record seems to indicate otherwise, Dimitri," Spades growled, refusing to call Zero by his preferred alias.

"Yea, well, the f—king place was asking for it. Mob smashed the window… I just helped myself. Turned into a bird, flew in and took it. No one even saw! Stupid cops can't prove nothin'! And we're helping them! They should be thankful!"

"**YOU are NOT above the law!!**" Spades starts yelling again, "You _**ARE**_ the law!! What in Lucifer's name are the citizens of Massachusetts going to think of us now?! We're not even on decent terms with the public as it is!! 'A vigilante of _justice,_ or **worthless** gang of _thieves_?!' Imagine the newspaper headlines! 'Why should we trust them?' they will say! You're bloody fortunate you **weren't** caught! I'd have dealt with you _personally!_"

Zero lost his temper now, standing up and confronting Spades, "I never wanted to be part of your stupid team anyway! You're some f—king Satan cultist, that Triard dude's a f—king fox mutant, and Leyla is some green **freak!**" Despite how much of a hypocritical statement that was, Zero knew that it struck Spades right where he wanted. He grins and continues along with the theme. "What, you so desperate you have to date some circus act?!"

Leyla's eyes widen as she overheard this, and then they began to tear up. However, it didn't take long for the hurt to turn into rage and hatred. She got up to go hit Zero, but Spades would beat her to it.

Zero opens his mouth to say something else when Spades and his seemingly infinite patience shatter in that instant. He brought his fist into Zero's jaw with such great force that Spades bled his own knuckles on Zero's teeth.

Zero was slams to the floor with his lip bleeding as well. He dabs the blood and looks up at Spades both shocked and frightened. Spades stares down at him, looming above, "Pack your sh-t and get out of my tower," he orders Zero. Spades's voice had returned to an eerily calm mood, though Avro's tone still corrupted it.

Zero, again contradicting his earlier words, yells out, "Why should I?! I'm a Teen Titan! I live here!"

"Not anymore. You don't _want_ to be one of us, and I'm not going to force it on you. Now…" Avro's voice takes over entirely, and Spades's pupils turn to yellow reptilian eyes, _"__**Leave this place…**__ Your sheer insolence is intolerable. Do not trifle with me, green child."_

Finally though, Zero's rebellion began to dissolve in the face of Avro. His pointed ears fold back against his head as he looks down in shame.

Triard spoke up at last, "Spades… I think you're going a little hard on him… Why not just make him return the stuff he stole, and be done with it? He wasn't caught stealing it, just having it. We can blame it on the looters and say we found it."

Spades was shaking with anger, but his eyes return to their normal, human appearance. "Very well. Zero, return those goods, and report back to the tower. Understood?"

"… Yes sir," Zero mutters.

Spades hands the pendant back to Zero and opens a portal for him. "Report back to the tower by tomorrow morning, no later. Should I discover that you _have not_ returned this item, I will personally kick you out of this tower…" Spades was not going to tolerate the dangers of abusing their power.


	9. Breaking Dawn

**Breaking Dawn**

Weeks had passed since October's end. The sun begins to rise over Boston on a cold and snowy November morning. The tower is quiet, and down below the morning commute for most of the citizens had only just begun. A blanket of white covers the normally green grass of the Boston Commons, while the roads are soaked in slush. The skies themselves are thick with clouds, not enough to blot out the sun, but enough for that same sun to turn the normally blue skies to a crimson twilight hue as the city greets the new day.

Spades was still sound asleep, the blinds in his room shut closed, leaving him in total darkness. Though he slumbered, he achieved little rest. He tosses and turns, sweating and shaking, and his hands are clenched into fists. His breath is uneasy, trembling with each inhale as he endured another of his reoccurring nightmares.

The dream was always the same… It began with a verbal argument with his parents. There was a Christmas tree in the room. Presents were already beneath it. Cookies and milk still sat upon the coffee table as a gesture toward Saint Nick, even though none of them believed in him anymore.

This was supposed to be a happy time of year… and yet, joy and merry-making always turns to hatred and violence every year. Spades, only sixteen years of age now, is in the middle of a yelling match with his father.

The words are just a blur. The only thing that Spades can hear himself saying is, _"Every f—king Christmas it's the same!! This is why I hate the holidays!!"_ He storms out of the house, letting the sounds of screaming and yelling fade as he walks away, leaving his home to calm down for an hour or so.

The walk to the park turns into a corrupted, distorted memory. The hours he spent down there went by in an instant. He soon found himself standing in one of the jungle gym towers, staring out onto the roads near by, watching car pass. A light snow fell from above.

Spades mutters to himself, "They never listen… My opinion never matters… They can all f—king burn in hell… I mean nothing to them."

As if on demand, less than a minute later, Spades suddenly hears the first of many faint sirens in the distance… A wave of paranoia begins to overwhelm Spades as the horrid banshee's scream slowly but steadily grows stronger. Though he tried not to, he inevitably turns his attention toward the horizon past the treetops, where he could see a plume of dark gray smoke rising in the distance. Then the sirens become louder, and louder; soon almost deafening in volume. A fire truck and an ambulance race by, driving up Spades's home street.

He hesitates at first, unable to believe what he was seeing. Finally he leaps from the jungle gym and runs. Part of him knew what was happening… The rest didn't want to accept it. A powerful gust of wind sweeps through the streets, and before Spades can blink, time blurs again.

Now, he is standing outside a building in flames… _his home_. Smoke billows from the windows, the roof smolders and warps in the heat, and the old tree in their front yard which towered over the house was now burning and crackling as the searing inferno licks at its limbs and leaves.

A police car blocks the road, stopping Spades from passing by. He yells and screams, desperate, but it felt as if no matter how hard he cried, his voice had become mute… Was no one was listening? Did no one care?

The worst of the dream had yet to come. Firemen began charging out the front door, evacuating the building. Spades heard someone yell, "_It's coming down! It's coming down!_"

Suddenly, a loud and startling noise screeches in Spades's ears.

"_**INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT."**_

The dream shatters in an instant. Spades immediately awakens from his slumber, his heart having unpleasantly skipped a beat in the process. The sound of security alarms going off throughout the building hurt his ears. Spades mumbles to himself, frustrated, "Who in the hell—?!"

He springs up from bed and grabs his cloak, running through his doorway to alert the others. "Titans! Emergency, everyone up!!"

Leyla, Zero, and Triard exit their rooms a split second after Spades gave the order. Leyla, who was still in her PJ's, rubs her eyes in exhaustion and asks, "What's going on?"

"Someone broke in, stupid!" Zero snaps at her.

Leyla glares at him, "F—k you! I'm tired!"

Triard groans, "Zero, shut up! Leyla, calm down! Spades, what's the plan?"

"Fan out," Spades tells them, "Seal the exits. I'll go to the control room and check the security cameras."

They obey their orders, scattering in various directions while Spades ran down stairs onto the main floor. He dashes through the corridors, heading for the center of the tower, when suddenly a doorway explodes in front of him.

The shockwave knocks him down on his back, but he recovers quickly for the ensuing fight. The blast came from the entrance of the tower's library. Two men in crimson cloaks scramble out through the passage and down the hallway.

Spades notices a book in their hands. He realizes they're being robbed, but for what? "No matter," he said to himself, "Patefacio prolixus porta of **abyssus!!**"

Behind him, a fiery rip between dimensions opens up, and from within darts a small swarm of imp-like demonic creatures. The unbearable shriek they let out upon their assault was comparable to iron nails scraping across a chalk board. To the unaccustomed ear, it would send chills down one's spine. Spades however stood firm while his opponents covered their ears.

The imps swoop past Spades, gliding along the walls and floor before mauling one of the men, scratching and biting him in every conceivable place they could.

The man goes down—yelling in terror—but his accomplice turns around and draws a sword to slash one of the imps through the wing.

Spades watches as the poor imp cries out in agony and turns to ash. The blade must have been either made of silver, or blessed in some way, perhaps enchanted. Spades focuses upon their aura. It was no holy blade, but it had a strong sense of dark energy. The magic that surrounds the sword is as crimson as the capes that the two men wore. It glows like the twilight of the day's morning skies.

The men would easily dispatch the rest of the imps, as they were weak creatures meant only to distract them. Though by the time their attention was again on Spades, he had already begun his follow-up attack.

"_Incendia tentatio!!_" Spades roars out as bright orange fireballs appear in both hands. He whips them across the room, detonating them on either side of the two men, figuring the shockwave would subdue them without actually killing them.

Instead, the older of the two men chants in a deep voice, "_Azarath metrion zinthos!_"

A dark orb surrounds the two thieves, protecting them from the explosion.

Spades's eyes open wide with disbelief. That was _Raven's_ spell! How did these men know it? Still, undeterred, Spades attacks for a second time, "_Incendia__** tenatio!!**_" he yells again, this time fusing the two fireballs into a single, much larger strike. He launches it at the thieves for his second blow.

"Lord Trigon servos nos!" the elder man calls in retaliation. The orb turns from black to bright neon red, absorbing the fireball, completely unscathed.

Spades feels his aggravation setting in. They had defended against _both_ his attacks now, and unfortunately fire and air attacks were _really_ all that he had. With little choice, however, he'd make another attempt to summon demonic help. "Patefacio prolixus porta of abyss—"

"_Incendia tentatio!_" the man bellows again. The defensive orb shrinks and melds into a raging fireball, which holds perfectly still for a split second before a flick of his finger sent it rocketing toward Spades.

Spades's summoning spell is cut short. He crosses his arms together and braces himself for the impact. It's a direct hit, striking Spades in the chest, to send him hurling back through the hallway.

The explosion felt like a pile of bricks being dropped on his chest. While the impact leaves him breathless, the flames severely scorch his normally fire resistant clothing. He collides with the wall at the end of the corridor, striking his head on the plaster with enough force to dent it. The last thing he remembers is landing on the floor… then everything turns black.

Some time later, Spades begins to stir as someone shakes him gently. "Jeremy?" calls a familiar voice. He opens his eyes to find Leyla kneeling over him.

Triard was there too, as was Zero. Triard is standing close by, though Zero was down the hall swinging his fists in the air and kicking his legs as if fighting.

"And then we were like—POW! And they were like, AAHH!! And I was like, 'DIE b*tches!' And you were all—BLEH." He makes a silly face with his tongue out and eyes crossed, and then he falls over on his back.

Triard rolls his eyes, "Zero, we never even saw them."

Zero blatantly lies, "I saw them! I fought them!"

Leyla growls in annoyance. "No, you didn't!"

"Yea I did! I saved Spades! Tell 'em Spades!"

Spades says, "They robbed me." He wasn't going to take sides in this pointless bickering. "They were not out to harm any of us. Otherwise they'd have killed me."

"What did they steal?" Triard asks.

Spades stands up, briefly checking himself for injuries. Aside from some bruises, he felt fine. "I'm not sure," he replies, "I saw a book in their hands and they were leaving the library. I'm not sure what value they might have in a mere book, but if they went through all this trouble to take it, there must be a reason."

Zero aimlessly states, "I'm hungry. We should have breakfast first."

Triard and Leyla both shoot him a glare for being so off topic. On the other hand, Spades humors him, "No, he's right. We're not much good if we can't think straight on an empty stomach."

Triard gives Spades a strange look at first, but soon surrenders the debate. He caught the hint that Spades had given them, so he decides he may as well get started in the kitchen.

Leyla meanwhile was more concerned with Spades. She asks him again, "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yea, I'm fine, there's nothing broken, I'm not bleeding… and my clothes took most of the damage—I think." He still peels back his sleeves to check himself for burns, and surely enough there were blisters on both his forearms. "… Oh sh*t." Now that he's aware of his injuries, the sting of the burns began to spread across both his arms. He winces in pain and tries to avoid yelling. Until now, the shock and awe of the fight left him oblivious of any pain.

Leyla's eyes go wide seeing the wounds. "Come on, you." She pushes him from behind, getting Spades to his feet to urge him down the hallway. She brings him to the medical center.

Spades resists at first, but as the stinging turns into painful burning, and blood begins to drip from his sleeves. Though having a high tolerance for pain, Spades knew that the adrenaline in his system would be gone soon. Consequently, he'd be in agony in minutes. He hurries down the hall with Leyla until reaching a hospital-like room before the pain reaches that point.

An hour passes, and after several applications of painful disinfection chemicals, Leyla began to wrap bandages around Spades's arms. They had cut his sleeves off and removed them in order to properly treat his wounds. His cape is left on a coat hanger near by.

As Spades sits on a sterile white cot while Leyla wraps the surgical tape around his left forearm until the wound was completely concealed. He thanks her for her help before standing again. His right arm had already been patched up minutes earlier. Without the raw air sweeping across his sores, that once agonizing burn had dulled to a tolerable, though constant throbbing.

Leyla checks the bandages for any loose ends. "They staying on ok?" she asks.

Spades flexes his arm a bit, inspecting the patchwork himself. "They seem fine to me."

Leyla smiles, "That's good… You ok otherwise?"

"I should be. I mean, I got some bruising, but otherwise I'm fine."

"Want any ice or pain-killers?"

Spades chuckles, "I'll be quite alright," he insists.

"Oh, I forgot something!" Leyla gasps, sounding nervous.

Spades blinked and gave her a look of confusion and worry. "Wait, what?"

She holds up his arm and kisses the bandage, and then smiles again.

His concern instantly fades, and instead he laughs, "Oh. _That_. Heheh, thank you." As cheesy as it was, he found it cute. At the very least it was heartwarming, allowing him to ignore some of his stress over the morning's events.

Just then, Triard walks into the room. "Sup Spades."

Spades nods to him, "Not much. You?"

"I got some info on the book those guys stole, and I think we have some usable camera recordings in the tower's security system."

"Oh well… If we know what they took, maybe we can track them. So, what is it?"

"One of your books."

Spades rolls his eyes, replying in a sarcastic tone, "No sh*t, one of my books? But seriously, _which_ one of my books?" He pauses for a moment, "… Sorry if I sound like an ass. I'm just a bit stressed."

Triard nods, forgiving him, "It's called the _Mysterium Tremendum_."

Spades raises an eyebrow, "I can't even read that book. It's written in Latin… Like, dead Latin—_Archaic_ Latin. I can't even use an online translator for it."

"Well, they stole it," Triard says.

Leyla speaks up, "Wouldn't something _that_ old be worth _a lot_ of money?"

Spades shrugs, "Probably. To whom, I don't know. Any ideas?"

Triard states, "Those who fancy oddities might buy it just for the sake of buying it… Or some Goth kid who thinks they know Wiccan magic crap."

"Yea, but imagine the price on it. That book is an incredibly old artifact. Lucifer himself gave it to me when he gave me the throne to his kingdom. It's supposed to break down barriers and unlock secrets that, frankly, we 'mortals are just better off not knowing more specifics on,' from what I know."

Leyla groans, "So it's one of _those_ books."

"Yea," Spades too was displeased, "Another book of ancient cult nonsense."

Triard smirks and teases, "_You're_ one to talk, Spades."

Spades glances at him, "Perhaps, but you do not see me summoning—" he pauses again, "… Actually, forget I said anything." He had almost forgotten he had used demon summoning just a couple hours ago to battle those hooded men. Spades felt like a hypocrite. In an attempt to change the topic, Spades asks, "So where's Zero then?"

"Eating," Triard replies simply.

Leyla's belly let out a growl. Her cheeks reddened when Triard and Spades both look at her stomach. "… _What?_ I'm hungry too!"

Spades manages to smile and laugh again, "Let's get something to eat then." He turns to Triard though, a more serious tone now, "However, I want an investigation to begin immediately after breakfast. Contact Boston Police Department and inform them of the robbery."

"Why though?" Triard asks, "…With all due respect, they don't exactly like us."

"I know," Spades admits, "But while we uphold the law, we are not official law _enforcement_. We can only help. We cannot take matters into our own hands, not yet, not until we show them we can be trusted. I don't need a repeat of what happened at Salem."

"Ok," Triard responds. "See you later." And with that, he exits the room.


	10. The Light Bearer's Shadow

**The Light Bearer's Shadow**

After a short breakfast, Spades and the others exit the kitchen and head down the hall. Their destination was the control room, which was in the very center of the tower. It is a room filled with television monitors linked into most of the public security systems of Boston, though the room has no windows. It also had a police scanner and a computer program designed to pick up on any criminal activity by tapping 911 calls, though so far the entire place had been powered down. Titans North hadn't been given authorization to use most of it yet, due to city politics…

In late October, Cyborg had come over to help reconstruct some of the tower's power grid. Up until now, the control room had been unable to function independently. For the first time, Spades and the team enter the darkened room and throw the switch.

A light comes on above, then another, and another. A hundred computer hard disks spooling up fills the room with ambient sounds as Spades watches monitor after monitor illuminate.

The main monitor, the largest at the front of the room, spells out in white text on a black screen, "_Wayne Electronics_." Then, the screen turns dark again until a login box appears.

Spades approaches the front desk, "You all have a username. Type it in, and then enter your password below." Spades enters his first.

An electronic female voice calls out in the room, "Welcome, Spades Neil." A moment afterward, Spades starts uploading the tower's security footage onto the computer's database and forwarding it to the Boston Police Department.

Meanwhile, the others in the team each find a smaller monitor and a computer of their own, where they input their password and access the database.

It didn't take long until they heard Zero cuss and kick his computer.

Triard spun in his chair, "Zero! The hell's your problem?! That's delicate!"

"Mine doesn't work!" he grumbles.

Leyla looks over his shoulder before bapping him off the head, "Well duh. It doesn't work for video games."

Zero looks at his screen. He was on trying to play some shooting game, which didn't load because it did not have the right software installed. He grumbles in frustration, "One of the most sophisticated computers in the country, and I can't play Stick Figure Sniper 7!?"

Spades firmly states, "It's not a toy, Zero. You have your own computer for that."

"… I know, but, the graphics should be WAY better on—"

"No, Zero."

"_Okaaaay!_" he whines.

Meanwhile, Spades continues watching his monitor until the police department network replies with some feedback on one of the men. A profile for the younger of the two men appears on the main screen. Spades tells everyone, "According to this, this man is a resident of Salem and already has a small time criminal history of robbing local magic shops. Minor shoplifting charges."

Triard looks confused, "The hell is a kid like that doing here? I mean, why would anyone rob a magic shop either? Seems kinda dumb… The most you'll get is some cheapo top-hat with a stuffed rabbit inside."

Spades shakes his head, "No, not that kind of magic, _real_ magic. Spellbooks, scented candles, silver charms, and its stuff that isn't generally cheap."

Zero began spinning in his chair, "Sooooo he's trying to make a quick buck."

Leyla asks, "Then who's his friend? And why magic stuff? I mean, you'd get more buyers if you stole an iPod off a school kid. Who'd buy magic junk? Especially expensive magic junk… I mean, he wouldn't break into the tower without a good reason."

Spades agrees with Leyla, "She's got a point. Whoever is after this stuff is paying big money for it, and there's probably a valid reason for it. Maybe that other man has something to do with it. The guy we have online is just a stupid teen, but that _older_ guy… He attacked me… He knew Raven's spells. He _knew_ what he was doing. That's what scares me."

Triard questions, "Well, you said the younger dude lives in Salem, right? Why don't we start there?"

"Yes, but we're not after the thief; we're after whoever is after that book. If the thief and our target are one in the same, all the better. However, if possible, I want the book retrieved. I'll meet up with you soon."

Leyla looks up, "What? Where are you going?"

Spades tells them, "I'm going to visit an old friend. At the very least, he'll be able to tell me about that book."

Hours pass, and once again the Titans had gone their separate ways to begin their search. However, while most of them had gone north to Salem, Spades had turned his attention south, traveling to New Jersey where Steel City lay on the coast.

There was in fact another Teen Titans team who once lived here, Titans East, but Spades had not come for them. Instead, he heads downtown, into the ghetto, where the criminal life was the liveliest. Here in Downtown Steel City, Spades appears through one of his portals across the street from a night club called, _"The Devil's Cocktail,"_ which featured an unlit neon cartoon Satan character out on the front sign.

Though the sign was unlit, the doors locked shut, and the parking lot empty, Spades knew that his friend would be inside. He wanders around through the alley along the side of the building until he finds a service door in the back. Upon entry, he takes a short few steps down the hall before arriving outside the owner's office. He knocks firmly, but gets no reply.

"I know you're in there… Open up."

There was a moment of pause, before Spades could hear the footsteps approaching the door, dress shoes treading across the wooden floor inside the office, until they soften while crossing a rug, and then nothing. Another moment of silence went by. Finally the lock clicks and the knob turns.

At last, the door opens. Inside stood a six-foot-tall, blonde haired, blue-eyed man, much older than Spades (appearance in his forties or late thirties), staring down upon him. He was wearing a crisp black suit with a crimson red tie. "Oh. It's _you._ What have you come to bother me for now?" Despite the rude greeting, the man steps aside and asked Spades, "Want something to drink?" He picks up a bottle of scotch.

Spades declines, "No thanks."

"Oh, right. You're a teenager…" the man scoffs, "Like that means you don't drink. Whatever." Instead, a soda can appears out of thin air and falls into the man's hand. He tosses it to Spades while a snap of his fingers causes his chair to roll up behind him. He sits behind his desk and puts his feet up.

Spades catches the soda and sets it down for now. "So I bet you're still wondering why I'm here?"

"That was a rhetorical question. I know what you want." He sighs out of boredom. "What I _don't_ understand, is why you come to me with this problem? You lose something, go find it…" He opens his scotch again and pours himself a new cup.

"Well, Lucifer," Spades begins to explain, "I seek information on the _Mysterium Tremendum_."

Lucifer, mid-sip on a glass of scotch, chokes on it and coughs it up onto the floor and part of his suit. He sits up straight as he covers his mouth.

Spades sat there, watching, "You sound surprised," he says sarcastically. "Thought you knew why I was here."

"I said I knew why, I didn't know the f—king _specifics!_" Lucifer wipes the scotch off his chin, while the spray on his suit disappear, turning into vapors as Lucifer waves his other hand over it. "How in f—king hell did you get _that_ book stolen!?" Lucifer spat, though trying to keep his voice down, as if worried someone might hear them. Finally, he walks to the window and pulls the shades shut, locking the door, and disconnecting his phone. He even orders Spades to turn over his cell phone, which Lucifer promptly pulls the battery out of. Once he is confident of their security, he continues, though whispering, "Do you _know_ what's _in _that book!?"

"I'm afraid not. Otherwise, why would I be here?"

Lucifer sighs deeply, "I'm starting to regret giving a mortal the job of a demon… I can't f—king believe you _lost_ that thing."

Spades was getting frustrated, "You're stalling. Explain to me what is inside that book because we need to retrieve it."

"No. Don't retrieve it, destroy it."

"Fine, but tell me what's in it. I want to know what I'm up against."

"No."

"And why not—?"

"Because if I did, the sheer volume of dark magic would overwhelm your feeble mortal brain, and your skull would implode on its self! You're not experienced enough to handle it."

"It is not mine to handle," Spades debates, "I have no desire in so much as _touching_ the book aside from returning it to its rightful place in the Infernal Library."

"No. Don't even take it back to Hell. That book is too f—ked up to even go back there. Destroy it. Shred it. Burn it. Drown it in holy water or in the _toilet_. I don't care! I'm already in enough f—king trouble with the guy upstairs," He points upward, "If he finds out I still have that damned book, he'll erase me from existence! He's _tolerated_ me up until now. I mean, he's even let stay on Earth! Powers limited, sure, but I'm f—king **free!** Now if you don't mind, I'm rather _enjoying_ my time here."

"Any particular reason you gave me Hell's throne in the first place?" Spades asks.

"No, not really, except I needed someone to take over, and Azazel was an idiot." Lucifer complains. Azazel, demon of warfare, was the prior ruler of Hell before Spades. Lucifer, though having given Azazel the throne at first so he could live on Earth, later ordered Azazel to be destroyed due to his cowardice. Spades helped carry out this deed little under a year ago.

"So you're certain it has nothing to do with your own sins?"

"Sins?" he looks at Spades, "Are you a moron? The sins of the prior king are _not_ inherited by the new… Well, ok, so that's a f—king lie, but that ain't the point. If it _wasn't_ my problem, I wouldn't give two sh*ts about you right now. It'd be _your_ problem."

Spades nods in agreement, "True, I suppose, but why then will you not allow me information on this book?"

"_Belial, so help me…_ I **just** explained that!" Lucifer barks, raising his hands in gesticulation.

"Then tell me," Spades continues, "Why should I choose to trust your word?"

"Why? Because I'm not a demon. I'm a prick, sure, but I'm no demon. Big guy just kicked me out 'cause I was a spoiled brat. You humans have screwed yourselves up so much that I can only watch and laugh these days. But seriously, I'm not a demon. I am _Lucifer the Light Bearer,_ a damn angel! Hell, kid, I'm probably one of the few you can _trust_ these days."

Spades chuckles lightly, "Then I suppose I have no choice."

"Yea, well, I'm not stupid. I mean it. You got more choices than I wish you did. Don't go f—king with that book. Get rid of it, but don't you dare open it. Otherwise you won't _have_ choice anymore."

"What if it contains some hidden power that you just don't want me to have?" Spades smirks.

Lucifer facepalms, "**No sh*t.** Why do you think someone stole it in the _first_ place? Kid, I wonder about your intelligence sometimes…"

"Well," Spades explains, "It could simply be of great value. I know people who buy cookies on eBay for thousands of dollars because they look like The Prophet."

Lucifer can't help but snicker at the thought of it, turning away to conceal his laughter. "That's rich."

Spades continues with his statement, "Well, if you can't tell me what's in it, maybe you can help me find it? Or at least tell me why someone would want it."

"Well," Lucifer starts off reluctantly, "I wrote that thing like a few thousand years ago… when my power was _**raw**__._" Lucifer held up his fist and grins, but then sighs and let his arm drop as he dwells in the reminiscence, "Man, those were the good days… But seriously, that has some of my oldest powers sealed inside, along with a sample of pretty much every other demon that's ever ruled The Pit, including the Leviathan and Belial. It's even got _your_ spells written in it. Reason I don't want you f—king with it is because I know how mortals get with power. You **always** f—k it up! Funny as hell to watch… forgive the pun… but _dangerous_, even to me, when you get too much, especially _that_ much. Know why the big guy won't come down these days? He's seen it. I've seen it. Last time he sent a messenger down, you morons tied him—no, _**nailed**_ him to a damn stake of wood!" Lucifer pauses for a moment before chuckling slightly, "Ok, I admit, it made me laugh, but I'm running outta reasons to hate the big guy. Plus, Earth sucks a whole lot less than Hell does… I mean, it's not Paradise, but it's the next best thing…" He sighs again, "Whatever. Anyway, you want that book? I'll help you find it, sure, but **don't** f—k with it. I can _**not**_ stress that enough!"

"I assure you, Lucifer, I am probably one of the more trustworthy mortals you'll ever meet."

"Yea, sure… I'm probably making a mistake by doing this… but I guess you're not the only one running out of options…" Lucifer walks over to the book shelf in his office and picks up a thick volume called _Commentaries on the Mysterium Tremendum_. "Last mortal who had the balls to read that thing wrote this and four other books. He's part of a cult called the Mythic Dawn. Actually, this guy, Ahura Mazda is his name by the way; he has a _bloodline_ in New England. He arrived here to escape religious prosecution in the earliest days of the colonies."

"And what has since become of his family?" Spades asks.

"Well, they've lived pretty quietly. Thing is, power from the Mysterium Tremendum, it's stained his family like red wine on white sheets. The Mazda family has been cursed for generations… But you wouldn't know that by looking at 'em. They live good lives."

Spades nods, "Like demons, some curses aren't all bad."

"Yea, well, this one's pretty f—king bad. Don't let its 'positive side effects' fool you. That's what you mortals go for. You forget how much it screws you up otherwise, like this sh*t," he tosses the scotch bottle aside before continuing, "Whatever. His family has been blessed with incredible looks, good fortune, charisma, and all that fun stuff. Know what they lost?"

"Tell me."

"_Choice!_" Lucifer exclaims, "They lost _choice!_ Their lives, their being, everything they _are,_ is at the mercy of a demon not much unlike my former self. Are you familiar with the name Trigon?"

Spades goes quiet hearing that infernal name. His heart skips a beat. "… Raven's father? Yes, I am familiar with him. I've even spoken to him a couple times myself in the underworld." Spades spoke calmly despite the unnerving update.

"Obsessive little bastard, isn't he?" Lucifer says, "Now him? Oh, _he's_ a demon, and one of the worst… but you know that. Moving on then; to find the Mysterium Tremendum, you should check out this Mazda family, and use _this_ book," he pushes the Commentaries toward Spades, "Because clues within the pages should give some details on their hideouts."

"Can't you just tell me where to look?"

"Wish I could, kid. I'm not all-seeing, and so far I haven't really given a damn until now about that book. I'm better at making riddles than solving them."

"Fair enough… I suppose, then, I should take my leave, Lucifer?"

"Yea, sure. Just don't bug me again unless it's important," he told Spades with subtle sarcasm. Despite his rude behavior though, he still had enough class to shake Spades's hand before he departs. "Don't make me regret giving you my old throne."

"You can trust me, Lucifer."

Lucifer goes to the door and unlocks it, then returns Spades's cell phone. "Ironic. Big superhero like you controls the darkest pits of hell. You're not evil though, or at least not yet. I like that. People think of Hell as an evil place. You don't, and neither do I. Why do you think the sinners go down there? It's just prison and punishment. I'm not roasting babies and puppies down there, am I?"

"But what of temptation?" Spades chuckles.

Lucifer looks at Spades, somewhat annoyed, "First off, that's the _old _me. I'm talking murderers, rapist, hypocrites, oh but you know all that… Second, don't even _start_ talking about 'temptation' now. I trust you, but only so much. You're still **human.**" He stated, very firmly.

Spades realizes it is unwise to joke right now. "Understood."

Lucifer finally opens the door, "Now get out. I've got guests coming in a few hours for a bachelor party."

"You're one of the more powerful fallen angels, and yet you're still out to make a few bucks? That seems kinda pointless."

Lucifer smirks, "Hey, old habits die hard I guess… You humans are just too much fun to screw with. Temptation still brings out our inner demons, kid."

Spades chuckles again, "Now what was it you said about hypocrites?"

Lucifer frowns, "Oh _f—k _you," he spat, "Get outta my bar, kid."

Spades opens up another portal in place of the exit door, "Farwell, Lucifer."

"See ya, kid."


	11. Incompertus Mazda

**Incompertus Mazda**

"Titans!" Spades talks into a communicator, "There's been a change of plans. Locate a family by the last name of Mazda."

Triard replies, "Mazda? I just passed a magic shop called 'Mazda's Magic' or something stupid like that."

Zero exclaims, "Woo! Open and shut case! Let's head on in and arrest 'em!"

Leyla groans, "Zero you idiot, we can't do that. We gotta prove it first."

Zero blatantly responds, "No you!"

Leyla stutters, "Wh-what?! That doesn't even make sense!"

Spades orders them, "Cut the chatter and meet me at Gallows Hill Park. We're going to need to regroup before trying to investigate the Mazda family. Anyone else find anything interesting?"

"Negative," Triard responds, "Nothing important."

"Then hurry to Gallows Hill."

Spades stands at the snowy hilltop for about an hour until the rest of his team arrives. Leyla swoops down in the form of an owl, transforming back to normal as she lands. Zero meanwhile ran up the hillside as a wolf, and Triard simply walks up a path way nearby with his bat wings tucked against him to keep them from freezing.

Beside Triard stood Serena, who was dressed in a warm black winter coat. Spades asks Triard, "Where did she come from?"

"I figured she'd know more about the Mazda folks," Triard states. "Unfortunately, she doesn't… but she insisted on coming to help anyway."

Serena nods, "Yea. Black magic is too dangerous. I wanna help any way I can."

Spades looks hesitant, "You realize this potentially could be dangerous?"

"Well duh," Serena tells him, "But I can't let you get hurt again like you did on Halloween!" She took both his hands.

Leyla shoves Serena's arms away and asks, "What can you do?"

Serena explains, "Well, I know a number of witches around town. My covenant probably knows more about this than any you. If they have any helpful information, we'll know. What's the book we're after anyway?"

"Mysterium Tremendum," Spades tells her.

"Never heard of it," Serena shrugs, "But I'll ask around."

Spades stares at the graveyard below, about half a mile to the northwest. A strange feeling began to overwhelm him… a sense of unease, yet somehow alluring. Spades eventually asks Serena, "What is that place?" He points, "Down there?"

"Harmony Grove Cemetery."

Spades looks at it for a moment or two more until he pulls his eyes away, "Triard, where did you say that shop was? The Mazda Magic shop?"

"What about it?"

"Serena, you know the place?"

Serena nods, "Yes, I do."

Spades continues, "Good. I want you to find out some information on the family that owns it."

"What kind of info?"

"… Unfortunately, I wouldn't know. Anything would be helpful."

"Oh, well I _do_ know some things… Like, they visit the cemetery every Saturday night."

"When? Like, what time?"

"Around midnight."

Zero complains, "I'm not staying up 'till midnight! I wanna go home! I'm bored! Aren't we gonna beat up bad guys or something?"

"Zero," Spades snaps at him, "Don't you dare start a scene here. Halloween, we had enough problems."

Leyla looks back to Spades, "Maybe we should just take Zero home then?"

Spades nods, "Fair enough. Serena, thank you for your help."

"No prob," Serena smiles.

"The rest of you, return to Titans North."

Leyla blinks, "Wait, what?"

Triard frowns, "You're not planning on fighting them alone, are you? We're not letting you do that again."

"No, not fighting," Spades clarifies, "Reconnaissance. I have no interest in fighting, not now, not yet."

Leyla asks, "Then how come we can't come?"

"The less people we have; the less possibility that we will be discovered."

Triard nods, "Good point… But seriously, call us if you need backup."

"So be it, but return to Titans Tower. I don't want our presence in the city to raise alarm. I mean, especially after the last time we were here…"

"Yea," Triard agrees, "Salem kinda hates us."

Serena tells Spades, "I can show you how to sneak in at night, but I won't follow… Graveyards do bad things to me…" She looks away, nervous.

Spades knew why. The aura of death that all graveyards gave off severely interfered with Serena's powers, and state of mind, from what she had told him in the past. "That will be enough, Serena."

Leyla glares at Serena, but says nothing. She hugs Spades tightly, "Come home safe, ok?" She kisses him.

Spades blushes softly and returns the kiss. "I intend to."

Twelve hours had passed since the meeting upon Gallows Hill. Spades returns under the cover of darkness to meet Serena at the hilltop once more. She had been waiting for him.

They look at each other, but barely speak. Serena only leads Spades down the hill and through the streets, until they arrive at the edge of the graveyard. The front gates are locked and chained at this time of night, but Serena brings Spades right past it. They continue around the graveyard until they turn past the south-west corner and walk up the west wall. A few minutes later, they come to a damaged section in the stone border.

This section of the wall was being renovated. Equipment belonging to landscapers still sat in the back yard of some person's house, as well as within the graveyard perimeter. The damage to the wall however provided a gap for them to barely slip through.

Spades shimmied his way through the narrow passage until he was inside the yard. "Thanks Serena… I can't risk using my magic, they might notice it. Otherwise I'd just make a portal inside."

"You probably shouldn't anyway. The spirits don't like it."

"Thanks for the help. Return in a couple hours, after midnight passes. If I'm not here when you return, call the Titans."

"Got it… Good luck."

Spades turns away and begins to wander through the night. It is terribly silent, the only noticeable sound; a thin layer of snow crunching beneath his feet, as well as the ever-so-faint ambience of cars on a distant highway. Though street lights illuminate the horizon, they do little to brighten the graveyard, which remains shrouded in black.

It's nearly impossible to see. Spades occasionally finds himself stumbling across low-lying gravestones, or tripping over the roots of willow trees.

Just then, he senses a presence… He searches the darkness before moving up against a near by willow to hide behind if necessary.

Through the shadows, he catches the silhouette of a girl dressed in a deep blue cloak. He faintly notices a shimmer of red off the girl's forehead, which Spades recognized to be a gem stone. "Raven?" he whispers to him self.

Raven approaches a tombstone marker in the center of the graveyard. She was silent as usual, and her movements calm. However, she appears to be inspecting the tombstone, searching it with her eyes, looking for something out of the ordinary.

Spades takes a deep breath. With it, the wind around them gently stirs. Raven looks up as she senses his energy, knowing she had been followed, but not by whom. "Who's there?" she asks firmly.

Spades could sense her gathering up her powers. It was curious that she was this far from home, but Spades would get an explanation soon enough. Figuring he had little choice, he asks out loud, "Rachel Roth, I presume?"

Raven recognizes his voice. Her defensive stance melts away and she breathes a gentle sigh of relief. "I thought you were someone else…"

"As did I. That makes me wonder, however, what are you doing way out here?" Spades asks as he walks toward her.

Raven frowns at him, as if she knew Spades suspected her of foul play. "I have my reasons. What about _you_?" she asks, insulted.

"A couple men attacked my tower a few days ago and robbed me of something very valuable… Now I'll ask again," he states, more firmly, "What is your reason? You're a far way from home, Raven."

Raven began to calm down again as she began to understand, "A small group of cultists attacked my home… They tried to kidnap me… They almost succeeded, too."

Spades is somewhat surprised, "Really? Why?"

Raven didn't seem interested in discussing the topic further.

Spades presses it. "Red cloaks, right?"

"Correct…"

"Skilled spellcasters?"

"Too skilled." She looks away. "They attacked me, but when I retaliated, they almost immediately used my own powers against me."

"How many were there?"

"Six," Raven tells him.

"Strange… Only two attacked me, but one of them copied my fire attack."

Suddenly, they hear the low croak of a creature behind them. Spades turns, as does Raven, to see a large black bird perched upon the near by willow tree, watching them. Its red eyes sharply contrast with the black shadows. It is almost as if they are glowing in the moonlight.

"Ravens?"

Raven looks at Spades, "What?"

"No, not you. The bird there. They're not native to this region."

"It's a spy. Look at its eyes…"

"They're unnatural, I see."

The black bird croaks again, louder this time, and then unleashes a deafening screech.

Spades reacts instinctively. He yells, "Incendia tentatio!!" A fireball lights in his hands, illuminating the graves all around them with an orange, red light, until he launches it at the black bird.

The strike is direct and unforgiving, knocking the bird from its perch. As the body hits the ground, however, it shatters like clay pottery and a crimson aura escapes a split second later. It swirls about the graveyard, coming frighteningly close to Spades and Raven.

Raven whispers, "_Azarath metrion zinthos…_" Black energy pools around her and sweeps between the headstones until it snags the crimson spirit and tears it asunder.

Spades speaks loudly, "They know we're here!"

They soon a second, yet more distant screech.

Raven quickly walks toward the tombstone she was inspecting before Spades arrived. She places her hands upon it and mutters something beneath her breath. Spades listens in, though understands none of it.

The gravestone suddenly lights up around the edges, glowing neon red, before it dismantles its self brick-by-brick until a stone stairwell into the underground was exposed. Torches alight along the passage.

Spades looks at Raven, "How the hell did you—?"

"I'll explain later. Get inside!"

Spades hears the fluttering of a dozen more black birds closing in on them. Raven is already hurrying down the stairwell. Spades scrambles down after her into the catacombs below. Up above, the gravestone reassembles its self and seals them inside.

The black birds circle overhead around the tombstone for a moment more before they spread out across the graveyard, searching for them in vain.

Spades stares up at the stone arch ceiling until he could no longer sense the presence of the birds. He slumps against the wall and lets out a deep sigh of relief, sliding down the side until he sat on the floor. His heart is still pounding, but at least for the moment, they are safe.


	12. Catacombs

**Catacombs**

It takes a moment or two for Spades to catch his breath. As he finally calms down, he rises to his feet and turns toward Raven. "What happened up there? Why are you here? And how did you open this tomb?" His tone was harsh. "Forgive me for suspecting you of treachery, but what else am I supposed to believe right now?"

Raven glares back at Spades, "I told you already. I was attacked in my home."

"Fine, but I'm asking _how_ you opened the tomb!? That wasn't one of your spells!"

"Do you think that's all I'd know?"

Spades opens his mouth to argue, but hesitates for a moment.

"I did some research. Cyborg and I captured and interrogated one of the cultists who attacked us. He gave us the password and explained how 'servants of Lord Trigon' are permitted to enter."

"… Well, you _are_ his daughter. You _were_ his gem."

"Don't remind me," Raven remarks as she looks toward the corridors ahead. She takes a moment to peer down the hallway to know their passage was secure. "No one's around. Let's move."

"Do you even know where you're going?" Spades asks at first.

"No, but if we sit around here, we never will."

Spades sighs, "I suppose you're right." He walks past Raven to lead the way. Spades takes a moment to brush the hair out of his forehead to reveal the red gem upon it.

Though Raven had a similar gemstone, her's was there for different purposes. She knew what Spades was attempting to do. "The walls may be too thick for that to work… and they could detect you…"

"Doubtful. The Third Eye is meant for seeing, for detecting energy. It takes no effort to use, only a clear mind… Your own two eyes do not give off light, thus nor does The Third Eye radiate energy."

Raven nods, "Alright." She quiets herself again to let Spades work.

Spades closes his eyes and continues holding the hair up away from his forehead. He takes a deep, peaceful sigh, and begins chanting quietly, _"Saaa-taaa Naaa-maaa…"_ He repeats the phrase a few more times until the red stone on his forehead begins to shimmer and glow in the darkness.

Though his eyes are closed, Spades can see a bright crimson aura penetrate his vision. He shudders as the light feels like it is passing right through him, but he quickly learns to ignore it. He can soon see more colors; auras of blue, green, red, orange, violet, yellow, and a stronger source of crimson.

The shapes of men and women soon became visible beneath Spades and Raven. He can sense great anticipation from them. People are gathering below, possibly for a meeting of some sort.

At last, Spades lets the visions fade away, and his eyes open again. "Directly under us there's an event taking place. We need to find our way down."

Raven's eyes begin to glow a white light, "Allow me." Her body lifts suddenly, and the shadows beneath her cloak rise with her and engulf Spades.

Spades hadn't any time to protest, instead finds himself surrounded by black, suspended in darkness for a moment until being dropped again onto a slab of granite. He hits the ground hard, but forces himself not to yell.

They are in the meeting chamber now. Raven had fazed them both through the floor like a ghost. They have a vantage point, hidden above and away from the action, within what appears to be some sort of cave.

Spades rolls onto his stomach and crawls to the edge of the rock. He sees a stage built of obsidian stones with an altar up front where a man stood to face a crowd, all of whom were dressed in crimson cloaks wearing their hoods up, except for the man on stage.

Behind the man stands a mighty statue of a demon with four arms, four ruby eyes, and four sharp horns upon its head. Its back is against the wall, and two of its arms symbolically hold up the ceiling, while the other two wield exotic curved blades.

From below, Spades overhears the apparent leader of the cult, the man who stood behind the altar, who exclaims, "All hail Lord Trigon! Praised be!"

His followers repeat his words, as if they hadn't a thought of their own. "Praised be!"

"My brothers and sisters," the leader spoke, "The hour draws nigh. There remains hope for our cause. Despite numerous setbacks, there is still hope of Paradise for us all!"

Avro begins to listen in as well. The leader had caught his curiosity. Spades feels Avro's consciousness setting in and quickly whispers to him, "Avro, do not get involved."

"_I am no fool. Now silence yourself, Spades. We cannot be detected."_

"Fine." Spades stops talking and continues watching, occasionally glancing toward Raven, who was also on her hands and knees. The expression in her wide blue eyes is terribly troubled. Her vision is fixated on the black stone statue in the back of the cave. Soon Spades returns his attention to the cult leader.

"Ahura Mazda was once like us; asleep, unwise, entangled within the bounds of his mortal body. Lord Trigon hath broken his chains! Lord of Destruction and Revelation! Our Lord shall bring about the apocalypse! There will be an end to the corruption of our modern day, and those of you who join his holy crusade shall indeed be rewarded with Paradise! The weak shall be cast aside! The traitors to our cause, burned at the stake! The doubtful, thrown to the pit! As for the foolish who dare stand in our way; **crushed** by the mighty fist of Lord Trigon! Though our last gem hath been corrupted, rendered useless to our cause, there is yet another. Seek out this treasure and bring fourth the final key, and open the portal! Usher in a new era of our Lord's reign!"

"All hail Lord Trigon! Praised be!" the cultists speak in unison.

Suddenly, Spades notices something sitting on the altar; a book. It took a moment for Spades to realize it, but the archaic text upon its cover matched that of the volume taken from him. He whispers to Raven; "There! That's the book they stole!"

Raven covers his mouth, "Sshh!" she abruptly tells him, still facing the stage below. She wanted to hear every word of this.

Just then, a man is escorted onto the stage with his hood down, the only one in the room whose identity was visible aside from the leader. The cult leader smiles at the new guest and continues, "We have a new brother among us. As Lord Trigon hath written; 'Come slow and bring four keys. Know that then you are royalty, a new breed of destroyer, whose garden shall flood with flowers known and unknown. Perhaps you came to us through war, or study, or shadow, or the alignment of certain snakes. Though each path matters in its kind, the prize is always thus. Welcome, novitiate! That you are here at all means that you have the worthiness of kings!'"

"All hail Lord Trigon! Praised be!"

In the back, Spades sees a pair of guards wielding swords dragging yet a third man in, this one stripped to near-nudity. They force him down on a slab of stone before the statue and restrain him with iron chains.

"I go now to Paradise," the leader tells them, "to inform Lord Trigon of our great progress! In my absence, this new novitiate shall dispense of this traitor, and serve Lord Trigon with holy Red Drink," he gestured toward the man on the stone slab, "And thus prove his loyalty!"

"All hail Lord Trigon! Praised be!"

The leader turns around and lifts a pendant from beneath his cloak. An orb of fire appears in the center of the stage, and the leader proceeds directly into it. The orb shrinks away into nothingness a second later.

Meanwhile, the novitiate picks up a pristine dagger next to the book, along with a silver chalice. He holds the blade pointed downward, preparing to stab the prisoner.

"They're gonna kill him!" Spades exclaims to Raven—though trying to keep his voice down.

Raven sighs slightly out of frustration. She knew they had to save this person, not only because it's the right thing to do, but also because he may hold valuable information. "Fine, but we need to get your book back as well…"

"We need to attack now!"

"You're right. Ready?"

"Yes! Let's do it."

Raven engulfs Spades in her cloak once again. In the form of shadows, they slips silently beneath the feet of the cultists below until reaching the stage.

Spades suddenly erupts from behind the novitiate from a pool of black. A gasp goes over the crowd a short moment. With flaming fists, Spades punches the cultist across the face. The dagger goes flying through the air and then skidding across the stage to its edge.

Raven appears a moment later and proceeds toward the prisoner. She begins to break his chains with her powers. Meanwhile, Spades tries to grab the book.

Suddenly, he hears a man cry out, "Kill these heretics! For Lord Trigon!!" The small crowd rushes the stage. One of the cultists grabs the fallen dagger and lunges at Spades to prevent him from stealing back the book.

Seeing the shine of the razor, he quickly dodges, and then retaliates with another flaming punch delivered to the gut of his opponent. Spades uses the same fireball to blast away a second assailant and knock him off the stage.

Meanwhile, a female sorceress picks up a wooden staff and screams out an incoherent spell. Whatever it was, it worked, perhaps too potently. A red bolt of energy shoots across the room and strikes Raven in the back.

Raven shrieks and collapses to her knees. In that split moment, Spades moves to defend her. "Incendia **tentatio!!**" he yells, his voice filling with rage as the flame in his hand reappears and intensifies. He throws the fireball at the ground in front of the enemy group. It creates a powerful air-burst explosion, knocking most of the near by cultists onto their backs and into the walls. The altar is toppled and the book is left sprawled open on the floor, pages-down.

The attack leaves Spades with his ears ringing because of the way the cave walls reflected the sound. However, the shockwave gives Raven enough time to recover, as well as for Spades to retrieve the book. However, the moment he touches it book, a strange shock rips through him. Spades feels his heart jolt slightly. For a flash of a moment, he sees four glowing red eyes staring down upon him. He nearly drops the book from the bizarre sensation, but he tightens his grip on it and returns to Raven, who had by now freed the prisoner. "Let's get out of here!"

Raven helps the prisoner to his feet, but then cries at Spades, "Behind you!"

Spades turns to hear a sharp war-cry as one of the cultists brings the dagger down on him. Out of reflex, he raises the thick book to shield himself.

The blade pierces the thick cover and penetrates deep into its pages. A dark crimson aura begins to seep out, as if it were blood. The dagger suddenly disintegrates, and the cultist falls back screaming in horror and flailing on the ground and clawing his own body.

At first, Spades stares at him with confusion in his eyes, until he feels a burning sensation grip the hand he was holding the book with. He tries to drop it, but the pain flares up his arm like an inferno, and his hand go paralyzed.

Another flash of those crimson eyes enters Spades's mind. He hears Avro let out an agonizing, infuriated roar. _**"BE GONE!!"**_

The pain continues to his chest. By now, Spades should be yelling, but instead, he simply feels his muscles lock up. He couldn't even scream. His breathing becomes short and broken. He cannot release that infernal book from his grasp! His world begins spinning. A dark laughter rings throughout the chambers, loud enough to sting his ears. His very heart felt like it was being slowly sliced in half with a dull, jagged knife!

It's becoming too much for Spades to handle. The burning soon spreads to his other arm, and both his legs. He collapses to his knees and his vision is going blurry. His stomach twists, like he'd vomit up his insides any moment.

Avro was still roaring in the back of his mind. The sounds of snarls and slashes of sharp claws still rang in his ears… but most of all; Spades felt fear unlike anything he had ever sensed from Avro…

Suddenly, someone grab Spades and lift him up, carrying him under their left arm and dragging him along his feet. He can't see her, with his vision corrupted, but he can sense Raven's energy as she pulls him out of the chamber. He catches faint glimpses of the battle ensuing as Raven clears their path.

Still Raven is slowly being overwhelmed by her opponents. Even as she escapes into the narrow corridors of the catacombs, cultist guards and sentries continue hammering at them.

Raven reaches the exit. Spades can barely see two men in black armor charging at them, with helmets in the appearance of identical masks looking like the faces of dark, demonic kings. Still, Spades musters what strength he has left and tries to stand up on his own two feet. Raven still had the prisoner with her, and was already too exhausted to last much longer. Perhaps, In hindsight, Spades thought to himself it _would_ have been best not to go on this mission alone… but it was too late for that. Getting back alive with Raven was his only objective now. He takes a deep breath. The burning within him rages until he finally screams out with all of his breath, "_**NECRENOM HEXBEREK MORTIX!!**__"_

It is the first time Spades experiences such intense power coursing through him. Black energy erupts from both hands, both eyes, and even his open jaws. It lashes out across the room and grabs each of the men and begins lifting them into the air.

Their armor splits and breaks apart. The men struggle and thrash at first, but then they begin screaming and yelling. Blood drips from their cloaks. Their eyes look like they were popping out of their heads, until their own skulls begin to expand, as did their chests, and their limbs. Spades can hear the gruesome, disgusting crackling of bones breaking and the rip of flesh tearing.

Both their bodies inevitably tear asunder in a horrific pink mist after a moment more, but before Spades can behold his bloody deed, his legs give out, and he falls to the floor as his world goes **black.**


	13. The Dragon's Blood, Part 1

**The Dragon's Blood; Part 1**

_Darkness_. Nothing but _darkness_. Spades could see nothing but an empty void of _darkness_. "Am I dead?" he ponders nervously. "Avro? … Raven? … _Leyla_…" The last name comes with great sorrow. What would Leyla do if he was gone?

Still, Spades could feel his heart beat. It quickens in pace as these painful thoughts came to his mind. So he wasn't dead, that much was clear, yet this darkness would not leave him. This emptiness was overwhelming… Then suddenly, a bright light appears before him.

Everything blurs as his eyes finally open. He's cold and wet, realizing the icy ground beneath him. He can sense Raven's hands against his chest, channeling energy into him. Her hands were shaking, though the expression on her face remained stoic. Slowly, his strength returns.

Spades lets his eyes close again to relax for a bit longer until he can move his limbs once more, at which point he sits up. "Raven… what happened? Where are we?"

"On Gallows Hill."

Spades rubs his forehead. His head is throbbing with immense pain. His eyes felt like they were being scratched by nails sitting in the back of his skull every time they moved. He lets out a painful groan when he tries to stand up at last. Though his legs tremble at first, he holds himself up with Raven's help.

"Are you feeling better?" Raven asks him.

"Somewhat… sorta… Define _better_."

"Well you can stand."

"I guess… But again, what happened?"

"… To be honest I'm not sure. You cast a very dangerous type of dark magic. It worked, but you blacked out afterward." She lets him go when she is sure he can stand. "Your body couldn't handle the strain." Her normally quiet voice was almost a whisper now. "I'm surprised you even _survived_, much less _controlled_ it for a short time…"

Spades still had that empty feeling within him; a weakness in his heart, like part of him was missing. Eventually, Spades figures he may as well get ready to head home, "Well… Thanks for the help… but I should report back to my team… _Patefacio prolixus porta of abyssus!_"

Nothing happens.

Spades looks around for a moment, confused, before attempting the spell again, "Patefacio prolixus porta of abyssus!" Again, he could feel nothing. "The hell is going on?" he mutters to himself.

Raven explains, "The amount of energy you used in that curse made you black out. I think you've been drained of your powers for a while."

"… Well that's not good. Wait, what happened to the prisoner?"

"He's still here."

The young man had been sitting on an old bench a few feet away from them. Serena was with him, having given him some fresh clothing so he wouldn't freeze in the chilly weather.

Spades takes a few steps forward, still unstable on his weak legs. Raven stands by, ready to catch him if he falls. Spades asks the man, "What were they trying to kill you for?"

Spades then notices the man was trembling. The man is still shaken from the whole ordeal. At last he spoke, very low at first, "… They… they were jealous…"

Serena tilts her head, "Huh? Jealous of what?"

"My… my freedom," the man tells them, looking up, "My soul."

Raven looks toward Spades to see if he had an answer. This sounds like the ranting of a madman to her.

Spades remembers what Lucifer said, so he explains to Raven, "The Mazda family, from what I've gathered, made a deal with Trigon many centuries ago for some selfish gain. Their family was cursed as a result, and they basically became puppets."

"Makes sense…" Raven mutters, "But what about this man?" She turns toward him again, "Are you a member of the family?"

"Not by blood, and no longer by affiliation… They've branded me a traitor for my words. Called me a heretic… I've only been emancipated!"

"How?" Spades inquires.

Raven wants even more information, "Start from the beginning. How did you even come to join this cult in the first place?"

"I was an intellectual… a student at Salem State College. I was majoring in some religious art and literature classes, with a minor in paranormal study."

Raven asks mockingly, "There's such a class?"

Serena nods, "Yup. My mom took it."

Raven rolls her eyes, "That was rhetorical."

Serena frowns, "Hey, that—"

Spades speaks up, "Serena, quiet. Raven… please, hold your tongue." He turns his attention back to the man, "Continue."

The man nods, "Yes, anyway… One of my peers brought a copy of something in one day for the paranormal study class. It was called the Commentaries of the—"

"Mysterium Tremendum?" Spades asks.

"Yes. So you are familiar with the book?"

"I was given a copy of the first volume, but I haven't read it."

"There are four books… Have you read Anton LaVey's book?"

"The Satanic Bible? Yes, I have."

"Well, it starts off much like that… Volume one appears to use many dogmatic metaphors, much like LaVey's book does, and then it summarizes what's in store for the reader in the following books. I was intrigued, of course, and soon found myself the second copy online. The statements became more personal in the second book, talking about all the vulnerabilities we have while we are 'asleep' as the author called it…"

"I heard part of their leader's speech. I think I know what you mean."

"That deacon is a descendant of Ahura Mazda, the man who wrote the commentaries. The language implies how very old the writing probably is; maybe the seventeenth or eighteenth century, meaning these stories must have been passed down for several generations…" The man pauses, "Well, they're not stories anymore."

"Really? Tell me more."

"Yes, well, I obtained the second book, and started noticing an odd pattern in the writing. At first I ignored it, but when I obtained the third book, I started to notice it again. The third book detailed all manner of black magic rituals he had performed, how they 'liberated' him, but then said that the practice of these rituals would be revealed with the fourth book. This is where his similarities with LaVey faded. LaVey's work is all metaphors and symbolism, never literal like this… I knew I should have put it away, but I was enthralled."

"So, the last one is a spellbook?" Spades asks.

"No, much to my dismay, it was not. The fourth book was incredibly difficult to obtain. I found it at a flea market by pure chance after a _year_ of on-and-off searching. I was at first disappointed, as it was surprisingly short compared to the other volumes, and the writing its self felt like nothing but filler… but I believed its purpose to be more than that, so I began searching for that pattern again. I found it, and eventually managed to extract a secret message from it. It detailed a time and location. "That graveyard…" he pointed across the horizon to the cemetery below, "… at midnight, between Saturday and Sunday."

"So why did they brand you a traitor?" Spades finally asks.

"Why? Because I am curious, perhaps too much for my own good, but I am no murderer! When I came to their sanctuary, I was ordered to execute another traitor much like myself, serve Trigon 'red drink' and seal my loyalty to him! When I refused, they seized me and tried to destroy _me _instead…"

Raven asks the man, "Was this their only sanctuary?"

"Unlikely," the man says, "There were still parts of the book I could not decipher…"

Spades asks one last question, "Do you still have the books?"

"No. They were taken back from me when I was captured. As we speak, the cultists are likely evacuating the catacombs in the graveyard, or destroying them to prevent us from investigating further."

"Thank you for what information you've been able to provide," Spades tells him.

"Anything to stop those maniacs."

"Will you be alright from here?"

The man nods, "I'll be fine. I can get home from here."

Serena tells him, "Those cultists might go looking for you… If you need a place to stay…"

"It's alright. I should be fine. They're more worried about you two," he gestures toward Raven and Spades.

Raven nods, "Good point… We should begin heading back to your tower, Spades."

"Yea… Whatever happened to my powers, hopefully some meditation will resolve that."

Some time would pass. The day's sun would come and go behind a layer of storm clouds overhead. The hours blur together as the day fades behind the tempests above. A frigid downpour begins pummeling the ground below as Raven flew Spades and herself back to the tower in Boston.

They rode once again atop a black disk of energy as they soar over the earth below. Spades sits on the edge of the disk with his legs hanging over the side as before. He stares down at the passing scenery… There is an eerie silence aside from the sound of raindrops spattering against his now soaked blue cape. He tries to hide underneath it to protect him from the chilly wind.

It suddenly struck him, remembering Avro's cries of agony. Avro hadn't said a thing since they had done battle with those cultists. Spades finally breaks the silence, "Raven… I cannot sense Avro anymore." The sound in Spades's voice was nearly that of despair.

Raven raises an eyebrow, "What if he's too exhausted to reply?"

"Maybe…" It was a very violent fight, after all. Perhaps Avro was injured? This is the first time however that Spades can recall where Avro did not respond. Even when angry with Spades, _especially_ when angry for that matter, Avro would _constantly_ input his opinion on matters.

Yet, Avro remained quiet. Spades begins to wonder if he was even there anymore. Perhaps it had something to do with that book? Spades thought. He had been holding the volume beneath his left hand for some time now. He lifts it up, careful not to drop it to the earth below, as he starts turning through the pages. He retreats beneath his cape to hide it from the rain.

The book still bore the scare of the dagger's wound. The pages were still holed from the blade. Still, the book was otherwise intact. Spades tries searching the pages for clues.

The language was impossible to comprehend. Archaic text, ancient writing, foreign hieroglyphs, mysterious runes… None of it made sense. Yet, when Spades turns the page again, something strange happens. He arrives at a strange and mesmerizing display of these letters in patterns across two pages of the book, side-by-side. He starts staring at the symbols upon them… Consciously, he wonders why? He couldn't read any of it… Yet these words, this text, it gives Spades this bizarre sense of déjà vu.

Spades lets his eyes trail across the page. An indescribable sensation emanates through his fingertips, across his hands, and past his wrists… The world around him darkens and blurs as he focuses upon every individual letter and each minute detail of the book's pages.

Suddenly, the book is abruptly stolen from his grasp. Raven had snatched it away, "Maybe I should hang onto this…" she mutters quietly, glancing down at him.

Spades tries to grab it at first, but as the volume slips from his fingertips, his world becomes clear again. It was only then that he realizes what the book had been doing to him… "Y-Yea, I agree," he says after a moment's pause. Instead, Spades buries his face in his palm and tries to forget what just occurred.


	14. The Dragon's Blood, Part 2

**The Dragon's Blood; Part 2**

Time continued to swiftly pass them by. At last the journey came to an end. Spades steps off the black disk onto the roof top of Titans North and immediately walks toward the service entry down into the building.

Raven follows him down until they are intercepted by Zero, who had been wandering through the hallways.

"Dude! Where've ya been?!" he smiles broadly before seeing Raven, "Oh, why'd you bring the b*tch with you?"

Raven frowns sharply at Zero, though does not reply.

Spades quickly pushes the focus elsewhere, "Zero, where are the others?"

"Triard's sleeping again, and Leyla is in her room on the computer waiting for you."

"Ah, alright." Spades decides he should check in with Leyla to let her know he's back.

Zero turns back toward Raven, "So, what's up with you? Still hate me?" he laughs.

"More than you care to know," Raven sneers.

Spades tells Zero, "Dimitri, leave her be…"

Zero rolls his eyes, "Whatever." He turns away and walks off.

Raven unclenches her fist and sighs deeply. A few light bulbs overhead suddenly burst.

Spades winces and shields himself beneath his cape as the shards fall. "I take it you don't like him?" He illuminates a fireball in his hand as a backup light source.

"Like I said, more than he cares to know…" She continues on past Spades.

Spades picks up his pace and leads the way down a few more floors until the halls were lit again. Soon, they arrive in the living quarters of the tower.

They can hear music coming from Leyla's room. Spades smiles a bit and tells Raven, "You go ahead and feel free to pick out any guest room you like. I'm going to see Leyla. If you desire entertainment, there is a library on the floor below us."

Raven thought about visiting the library, "Alright… If you need me, you know where to find me…" Raven leaves for the stairs at the end of the corridor.

Meanwhile, Spades quietly and carefully opens the bedroom door where he saw Leyla sitting at her computer. She had been and browsing MySpace while playing music through the speakers. The noise was enough to prevent Leyla from hearing Spades enter.

Spades sneaks up behind her, and then wraps his arms tightly around her to kiss her cheek.

Leyla gasps and jumps a little until she realizes who it was. She then smiles. "When did you get back?" She happily returns the kiss.

"A bit later than I expected… Things didn't go according to plan, but I got into the graveyard, and I completed the mission. Raven was with me too."

"Ohhh… Wait, why was Raven there?"

"I was wondering the same thing, but she claims that cultists attacked her home a few days prior to the assault on our own tower. She came back with me after the fight."

"Fight?" Leyla's smile disappears, "I thought you told us you _weren't_ going to be in any fights!"

Spades stops smiling as well. He knew he was in trouble, "Well, I—I mean, we weren't _expecting_ to get into a battle."

"I don't care, Jer. You have a team for a reason!"

"I know, I know, but you guys could have gotten hurt…"

Leyla grabs his wrist, "And you didn't?" She held out his hand, exposing a large burn in his palm.

Spades double-glances at the burn, "What the—? I didn't even notice…"

"You're just saying that!" Leyla scolds him, "Jer! I know we're superheroes and stuff, but we're also a team. Dude, look at your hand!"

"I know! Ok? Look, I said, I just don't want you getting hurt!"

"So what? You're gonna go off fighting alone instead?!"

"I wasn't _alone_, I had Raven!" Spades protests to Leyla.

"_Only_ Raven, which wasn't very helpful anyway, and you didn't even expect her to be there! What if something worse happened? What if she _wasn't_ there?! … Look, I'm sorry if I sound like a nag, but seriously…"

Spades falls silent and looks down at the burn in his palm. It wasn't bad, but it was the same hand he was holding the book with when that cultist tried to stab him and stuck the book instead. His heart sank as he thought to himself: _What if Raven _**wasn't**_ there?_ Spades remains quiet, looking toward his feet in shame. Perhaps it would be best if he did not tell Leyla everything.

Leyla calms down after a minute and hugs Spades, "I'm sorry I'm yelling at you, but you know why…"

"Understandable," he replies in a relaxed tone.

"You're not going alone next time. I don't care how much you say no!" she smiles faintly, brightening her tone as well in an attempt to cheer him up.

Spades put on a convincing smile as well, though it was difficult. "Fair enough. Just be careful."

"You worry too much, Jer…"

"I always do," he chuckles lightly. "But so do you."

"_Shut up_…" Leyla playfully shoves him.

Spades lets himself smile for real now, seeing Leyla happy. "Anyway, I'm going to head back to the living room, maybe see if Raven wants something to eat along the way. What would you like?"

"Hmm, doesn't matter to me."

"Suit yourself."

Leyla follows him back downstairs where they'd meet with Raven and the others to start making dinner.

Hours more would pass, and the rest of the evening would glide by without much disturbance. It wasn't until midnight, as Spades slumbered, that he began to suffer again.

It was the usual nightmare, the one about his home burning to the ground. Yet, something was different this time. The house was not yet aflame. The police officer wasn't there, blocking Spades from entering the house. The fire department hadn't arrived either. Spades finally enters the household only to witness a phantom of his former self yelling at his parents as it stormed out the door in its black leather jacket. _"This is why I hate the holidays!!"_ Spades heard echoing through the air. _"They can f—king burn!"_

Spades watches his doppelganger leave, but as he turns back around and walks quietly into the kitchen, he notices a single black candle sitting at the center of the dining table. Spades already knew this was going somewhere bad… He tries to remain conscious of the fact that this was just a dream. Still, everything felt so vivid, so detailed, to the point where he could even hear his own soft breathing, his heart pounding, and the footsteps underneath him as he started pacing around the table, his eyes fixated on the black candle.

A strand of melting wax drips down its side, cooling and fusing its self to the table. The flames intensify somehow. Spades quickly steps back and puts his hand out to try and control the fire with his powers, but instead of soothing the flame, it only brightens and flares upward to scorch his hand.

Spades yells slightly and jerks his hand away, and then inspects the wound. Upon the center of his palm, was a disturbingly familiar brand, a bloody crimson "S" was seared into his flesh. He heard a deep, yet quiet voice, _"Scath…"_

The walls around him begin to melt like the candle wax, and then they burn until nothing was around him but a barren, foreign wasteland filled with lava and ash. He hears a growl, and as Spades turns in the direction of the voice, he saw Avro standing there in his full dragon form. His long, twisting body is sprawled against the jagged obsidian terrain. That crimson "S" was emblazoned upon his forehead.

"_SCATH!!"_ Avro roars this time, blood dripping from his mouth. When Spades approaches him, he realizes how horribly mutilated Avro's body is. He had been gashed open in several places, his tail crippled and broken, and his left eye bleeding and blind.

Spades's heart sinks into his stomach, and then twists nauseatingly. The only thing that stops him from vomiting is the acknowledgement that his friend desperately needs help. He runs toward Avro.

However, when he comes too close, Avro's eyes roll back into his head as he lets out this animalistic snarl. Avro lunges out with his jaws to snap down on Spades's right arm. He bites down on it and forces Spades to his knees. The hand with the "S" in its palm is pinned inside.

Spades starts tugging at his arm at first, and then starts beating frantically at Avro's muzzle.

Avro only continues to snarl, increasing the pressure.

Spades feels his arm bending, spraining, and nearly snapping. Then an overwhelming rage begins to consume him. Spades grits his teeth before yelling with all his breath, "**Release me!!**" and let a fireball appear in his hand caught in Avro's maw, detonating inside.

Avro doubles back, releasing Spades, while the marking on his hand starts throbbing and burning. Spades breathes hard as he stomps toward Avro now. "Avro!!" he yells, "Stand down!!"

"_I chose this life…"_ Avro grins, _"You were doomed since your birth… Your family was doomed because of you… Soon, your friends will be doomed to __**eternity**__ as well!"_ he snarls.

"Avro, what the hell has gotten into you!?"

Avro only laughs deeply, and then roars out, _"__**Power!**__"_ He lifts into the skies and disappears into the black clouds above.

Spades watches him take off, but amidst the clouds were four red eyes staring back down at him. Horns stuck through the smoke, and a grin appears. A new voice, deeper than Avro's, spoke down at him… _**"I've found you at last…"**_

Spades loses it. He screams out with all his rage and launches a larger fireball at the skies, which went black as the flames explode just above him. Spades was on his backside now. He jumps up and charges through the darkness, wildly hurling fireballs in all directions, causing explosions left and right. He was blind with hatred. "**Where are you?!**" Had Avro betray him? Was this new figure controlling him?

He was in a hallway now, somewhere. Another fireball whirles down through the darkness, illuminating doorways along its path until it smashes through a large window at the end.

Suddenly, he hears a frightened, female voice, "Spades!!"

Spades turns with flames ready in both his fists to see Raven in a fighting stance behind him. Dark energy thrust outward from her and grabs both his wrists. Orbs of energy contained the fireball to prevent him from attacking.

Spades thrashes about for a moment until he realizes what's happening. He snaps out of it at last. He wasn't asleep anymore. The fireballs in his hands disappear.

Raven releases him. Spades stumbles back against the wall, bewildered, and panting hard. His eyes are wide with shock. His right arm was illuminated in strange red markings. When this caught his attention, he slumps back against the wall and slides himself down to the floor, staring at his arm. "W-What is happening to me..?" he mutters to himself before closing his eyes and trying to calm down. Though he was shaking violently, Spades takes back control of his emotion. Anger, he could suppress. The fear, however, would last a while.

It didn't take long for the others to be disturbed from their slumber either. The first one out of her room was Leyla, who dashes to Spades and slides on her knees to his side. "Jer! What just happened?!"

"Just a nightmare…"

"Just a nightma—dude, you _blew a hole_ in the side of the tower!!"

Spades attempts to trivialize the event, though he even felt silly for trying, "I just… kinda… thought it was a little more real than it was."

Triard and Zero were peering out their doorways just down the hall. Zero is the first one to attempt to come outside, "Dude! That was badass!"

Raven glares at him. "You, go to sleep."

Zero argues, "Why should I listen to—"

Triard exits his room and grabs Zero, "Come on Dimitri…" he sighs.

Zero flails, "Hey! I was just trying to help!"

Leyla helps Spades up by his shoulder. Raven tries to assist, but Leyla growls at her like a wolf, even baring her teeth.

Raven gently pulls her hand away and frowns at Leyla, "What was that for?"

Leyla doesn't reply. Deep down, she felt that part of this was Raven's fault. Still, consciously, Leyla tries to remember that it's really not. The growling subsides. "Sorry…"

Raven now makes a second attempt to approach them. Leyla wouldn't interfere this time and instead helps Raven lift Spades. They carry him down the hall, back to Raven's bedroom.

Leyla asks, "Why did we come here?"

"Because Spades and I need to talk…" she states firmly.

Leyla wants to argue, but she stays silent for now. Instead, she sets Spades down on the bed and seats herself beside him.

Raven interjects, "Alone."

Leyla frowns at that. "Why can't I hear?"

"Because there are certain things you either can't comprehend, or will not accept, and neither will Spades if you're here to cloud his judgment."

Spades turns to Leyla, "Its ok… I'll explain everything afterwards. You know how Raven is. No offense, Raven."

Raven shrugs, "None taken…"

Leyla reluctantly complies with the request. "Ok… Just tell me about it afterwards."

Spades nods and kisses Leyla. "We need to out sometime… like normal teenagers."

Leyla smiles slightly, "That would be nice…" She finally leaves.

Spades sighs deeply as soon as the door closes. He had a feeling whatever Raven was about to explain was not going to be enjoyable to hear.


	15. Trigon

**Trigon**

"Has this happened before?" Raven asks.

Spades shakes his head, "Not once. I swear."

Raven grabs his arm and holds it up, "Damn it Spades, do you even know what these markings mean?!"

"Do you?" Spades questions angrily.

"Obviously not, or I wouldn't be asking."

"Well clearly I haven't a f—king clue either!" Spades raises his voice, standing up.

"What sort of black magic have you been practicing behind my back?"

"Absolutely nothing!" Spades declares again.

"Lies! I saw what you did to those cultists, and now the side-effects are coming back to haunt you."

Spades yells, louder and deeper, "That curse has **absolutely nothing** to do with Trigon! You should know that!"

"The spell is dragonic by nature, but those markings are written by my father. You should be dead right now! That magic should have killed you! But something saved you! I want to know what it is!"

Spades protests, "You once practiced the same dark arts as I! Do not tell me I should be dead!"

"You idiot, I'm **half demon!!**" On this rare occasion, Raven starts yelling at Spades. A mirror in the back of the room shatters from her rage. "That's what freaks me out! You're human! You're _just_ human!! You don't have the control for this kind of raw power! It doesn't make sense!"

"I have Avro!"

"Sharing a human body with a demon doesn't count!" All this yelling causes her voice to become hoarse. Her vocal chords aren't used to such volume. "If anything, Spades should be dead, and this should be Avro I'm talking to! Instead, it's reverse! Maybe he isn't dead, but he's not there anymore!"

Spades tries to calm himself down, for Raven's sake as well as his own. "Fine, maybe you have a point, but I'm telling you, I don't know anything about these markings. I don't know why I survived. I don't know why they appeared today."

"No, but the curse left you powerless for most of the evening. You only got your powers _back_ when that nightmare came around."

"That nightmare was nothing new."

"Really?" she cocks her head sarcastically, walking toward Spades, "And I'm supposed to believe that your team mates are _used_ to such behavior? Leyla didn't sound very accustomed to it at all." She was mere inches from his face. Though slightly shorter than Spades, she still stares up at him.

"…" Spades grunts, realizing the many faults in his claim. He sits back down.

Raven continues watching him, "You blacked out when we fought those cultists. You stared into that spell book like it was a drug. Then you woke up and started attacking shadows! Spades, I'm not stupid! There's only one place I've sensed that kind of energy before!

"Where?"

"In my own mirror!"

Spades blinks, "Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

Raven groans and buries her face against one of her hands. She's shaking in frustration. "Give me a minute and I'll explain…" She clears her throat, and returns her voice to its normal, calm, monotone level.

"… Forgive me, Raven, I'm not exactly feeling secure right now either."

"It's fine, just… stay quiet and listen."

"Very well…"

After a long pause, giving Raven's throat time to recover, she begins to speak again, "Listen well… This is all going to hit you a little hard at first, but just bear with me."

Spades nods, "Understood."

"… Since the day we met, I've had suspicions about you."

"Like what?"

"The way you look, the way you act, the way your mind works… your very aura hints at it, Spades. I don't think your parents were human at all."

Spades raises an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"You've always told me your parents lived normal lives and so did you until you discovered your powers… You've told me stories about being an indigo child. I'm starting to get the feeling you're far more than that."

"Raven, just out with it. You're not making any sense."

"… I think… no… I'm certain, we're somehow related…"

Spades looks up, "That's just impossible. First off, you're older than I am. Second, your mother only had one child with Trigon, and that _alone_ made her want to kill her self."

"I know, but it doesn't mean Trigon seduced—or violated—someone else."

"But your mother is the only one to even survive until childbirth with a demon baby."

"She's not the only one. Indeed, most mothers are killed either by the child, by others, or by suicide, but there are a few who have survived in the past."

"Then why haven't I heard of any of these Trigon kids?"

"That is because they've all died… Their evil has led society to destroy them, except you… and me."

"Then what _about_ me?" Spades asks, "Am I evil?" He stands up again, "Dark, perhaps, but not evil. I may have a temper at times, but damn it, I'm **not** evil!"

"Neither am I, Spades… If I'm right, then you're one of the few who've overcome Trigon."

"Trigon has plagued you for most of your life, Raven. I have never even heard his voice!"

"Maybe Trigon doesn't know you exist… I don't know how that much is possible, though. If he's only discovered you now," she grabs his hand and holds out his palm with the scar in it, "Then that could mean he's just using you as another pawn."

"I'll get to the bottom of this." Spades jerks his hand away and turns around. "Patefacio prolixus—"

"Spades, what are you doing?"

"—porta of **abyssus**!!" A bright light illuminates the room from the center. It spreads across the floor in a fiery circle as the portal to Hell opens wide. Spades storms down into the passage and appears in a mighty castle. It is the same fortress which Lucifer himself constructed millennia ago.

Raven hesitates for a moment before charging in after Spades. She finds him in the royal hall of the building, standing in front of an empty throne.

One of the advisors of the kingdom, a man in black robes with his hood down, asks Spades, "What do you require, my lord?"

"Send for Trigon. Tell him it is an urgent matter and cannot be postponed."

Raven's eyes go wide, "You're _summoning_ him!? Are you stupid!?"

"I told you I'd get to the bottom of this," Spades declares.

"Spades, you don't understand—"

"**Who dares disturb me?"** bellows a mighty voice from beyond the front gates.

Raven turns toward the entrance of the throne room. A pair of lesser demons swing the front doors open to allow a red-skinned behemoth to march inside. Trigon's deer-like antlers graze the arch of the passage upon his entrance, and his four glowing red eyes stare down at Raven and Spades. Long, pure white hair sprawls down his neck from the back of his head, as well as over his cheeks and chin from his sideburns. His crimson body is only brightened by the torches that illuminate the corridor. Though shirtless, a loincloth covers him with a rope ties around his waist to hold it up. A giant ram's skull conceals the knot of the makeshift belt.

Spades exclaims, "Trigon, I demand answers for your drones gathering in Salem."

Trigon locks his four eyes on Spades. His wide mouth begins to grin, exposing his sharp, bleach white teeth. **"So, you are the alleged mortal ruler of Lucifer's former Kingdom…"**

"I demand answers, Trigon."

"**Seek for them within yourself…"** Trigon's gaze turns toward Raven, and his smile fades. **"Daughter…"**

"Father…" she glares at him.

"**So this is your new friend?"** he asks, again looking at Spades. **"He does not know his place in these realms, does he?"** Trigon begins to grin again.

Spades suddenly felt the scar in his hand beginning to sting. He clenches it into a fist and moves it behind his back to ignore it. However, the pain only worsens. He hears a faint sizzling noise as the sensation worsens into an intense burn.

Raven can smell burning flesh. She looks toward Spades to see a strand of smoke rising from the fist behind his back.

Trigon meanwhile speaks again, **"My business is my own, boy… but you seem very familiar…"** Trigon approaches Spades, a deep chuckle beneath his breath, **"You remind me much of my self in my youth. You are… **_**all too familiar**_**…"**

"Stop deviating from the topic and explain why you were in Salem."

"**Why were you?"** Trigon asks, leaning down toward Spades on one knee.

Spades feels the pain intensify. It felt like his entire arm had been thrust into hot coals. His hand shakes violently. "Forget it. You are dismissed. You are apparently as useless as you are clueless."

Trigon laughs deeply, **"I know much more than you may comprehend…"** He leans in closer.

Suddenly, Raven steps out in front of Spades and grows fifteen feet taller, "He said, you are dismissed," she growls at Trigon.

Trigon, now eye-level with Raven, frowns and takes a step back. He hesitates before muttering, **"Very well…"** He finally turns to leave, **"There is apparently nothing of interest for me here."**

Spades manages to tolerate the pain for now, but he still watches anxiously as Trigon leaves. He waits for the throne room doors to swing closed again. Finally, he turns around and starts yelling at the top of his lungs, "GOD DAMN IT!!! My f—king hand!!"

Raven returns to her normal size and grabs Spades, pulling him to the back of the room. Using her own magic, she creates a portal back to their world.

They reappear in her bedroom once again. Raven covers Spades's mouth as he lets out another cry, instead turning it into an incoherent muffle. She holds down his injured hand and opens a small pouch she carried, containing salt inside. She pours it on the wound in his hand.

Spades tries to yell louder as the wound sears with pain. Raven keeps her grip on his mouth however to silence him.

Raven mutters something and holds her free hand over the wound. The salt starts turning red with blood, but the pain dies down.

Spades eventually calms and quiets as the agony subsides. He looks at his palm covered with red salt.

Raven lifts her hand away and releases his wrist. "There… Listen to me next time…"

"Fine…" Spades picks up his hand and tilts it to one side. The red salt pours off, as if perfectly dry, and scatters on the floor. Beneath it, the wound was gone. Even the scar had been erased. "Something tells me this is only temporary."

"You're right," Raven says, "But it should bring you some relief for now… Anyway, if my suspicions are correct, then we need to understand your full potential… But to do that, you need to know more about my upbringing as well."

"Understandable. You have more experience with Trigon, so that only makes sense… but how do you plan on explaining this to me? The Azarath you grew up in is no more."

"I know…" Raven looks away, "But there are other ways to show you."

"Like what?"

"There's a ritual I know called 'mind melding.' It opens a portal into each of our minds, allowing each other to see everything inside, both conscious and subconscious… Although, I hesitate only because of… well… you know."

Spades asks, "You think it's too overwhelming?"

"For some, yes…" Raven replies, "My thoughts could very easily break your mind and drive you insane if you're not prepared, or if your will is not strong enough."

"Well," Spades replies, "You've always known me for an ambition that is rare amongst men."

"I've also known you to boast," she remarks, smiling faintly.

"You've always acted different around me, though. I've noticed it. You don't trifle with the others, yet with me, I've even seen you laugh on several occasions."

"You'll understand everything in due time, Spades…" Raven tells him. "You can go now. I'll fill in the blanks later."

Spades nods softly, looking toward his hand once more. There wasn't a trace of the scar at this point, but Spades could still draw the outline with his eyes.

Raven puts her hand on Spades's shoulder to get his attention, "I sense Leyla is more worried about you than any of us. You should go spend the day with her, like you were saying earlier."

"Yea… I guess you're right. I don't want to end up like Robin," Spades chuckles. Robin, the former Titans leader, was known for neglecting his friends whenever he was obsessed with his investigations.

"You go ahead. I'll be in the library when you get back. Take Leyla to a movie or something, or maybe a walk in the park."

Spades smiles, "I'm sure she'd enjoy that. I'll see you later then." Spades turns to leave, but pauses at the door, "And Raven?"

Raven, who had also turned away, looks over her shoulder, "Hm?"

"You've taught me much. Hopefully it'll all help very soon… Thanks." With those final words, Spades takes his leave.


	16. The Anti Hero

**The Anti-Hero**

Just before noon, Spades enters the living room to find Leyla sitting on the couch having a bowl of cereal. He sits down beside her and leans over to kiss her on the cheek. "How're you this morning?"

"Good I guess. What did Raven tell you?"

Spades hesitates for a moment as he finds the right words, "… Well, she scolded me for fighting those cultists, of course… Though when she was done, she suggested I go get started on that date I mentioned to you earlier," he explains, even though he omits a very large portion of the story.

Leyla begins to smile. "Really? Where do you wanna go?"

"Heh, I was about to ask you the same thing. What about you?"

"Oh, well… I wanna go where _you_ wanna go!" she sticks her tongue out playfully. It wasn't so much that she wanted him to make choices for her; it's just that she could never decide.

Unfortunately Spades was the same. He laughs, but before this turns into a silly back-and-fourth debate, he just suggests the first thing that comes to mind. "What about a movie?"

"That sounds nice," she kisses him gently, and then continues with her breakfast, eating faster so they can leave soon.

"Which movie would you like to see?" he chuckles.

Leyla swallows down a mouthful of her food and says, "You don't wanna see what I wanna see," she smirks.

Spades insists, "No, I do, I promise."

"Good. Twilight: New Moon!" she exclaims, and then giggles. She just played Spades right into her hands.

Spades blinks at first. "… Oh, I see what you did there." He shoves her teasingly, "Twilight, alright…"

"Yea, yea, I know, but the movie is way better than the book."

"But it's the same crappy storyline!" he argues, although he smiles as he does.

"But Jacob is soooo sexy! … Although you're still better," she smirks. "We're still seeing Twilight, though."

"Fine, fine," Spades flicks Leyla's shoulder, "I'll go get ready then and meet you back in here. Sound good?"

"Yup!" Leyla goes back to eating.

"Love you, Leyla," Spades stands up.

Leyla smiles broadly, "Love you too, Jer."

By noon, Spades returns to the living room dressed in normal black pants and a black T-shirt. He left his cape in his bedroom, having the hopes that maybe they could enjoy this as a normal day. He had also taken a shower and combed his hair in an attempt to look his best. He even wore his favorite black leather jacket.

Leyla had done much the same. Rather than the white and purple outfit she normally wore, she instead wore a red checker-pattern jacket with a matching skirt and hat. She wore one of her favorite dark gray "L" T-shirt underneath. "L" was actually the name of some anime character that she liked.

Spades goes to sit at the couch, where there was a laptop on the coffee table. "I trust you're ready to go?"

"I am," Leyla replies. She sits herself on Spades's lap and watches the computer screen.

Spades chuckles softly and works around her, "There's a show in thirty minutes right in Boston. Let's get going now."

Leyla teases, "But I just got comfy!" she wiggles on his lap and then stands up, smiling.

Spades gets up after her, taking her hand and walking to the door. They turn down the hallway and into one of the tower's elevators.

As the door closes, Spades pushes Leyla against one of the walls and presses her into a deep kiss.

Leyla's eyes go wide for a moment, her pointed ears twitching gently, before she melts with him. It had been too long since they had so much as enjoyed a simple kiss…

When the elevator reaches the bottom floor, Spades breaks the kiss, though keeps Leyla's hand held firmly in his grasp. He believes this will be a much needed hiatus from all the chaos they had been dealing with.

On the bottom floor of Titans North, because the building's lower floors were still occupied by many offices, there was a security guard sitting at the front desk. He nods his hat to Spades and Leyla, "First time I've seen you two actually _use_ the elevator…"

Spades tells him, "Just trying to have a normal day for once."

"Well, enjoy yourselves," the guard tells them.

Spades smiles back at him. "Have a good day." He leaves through the revolving front doors with Leyla. He mentions to her, "See? Why can't more of Boston be like that guy?"

"Well, you _do_ give him a paycheck," she jokes, "But he's also had a chance to know us for who we are."

"Yea, instead of what the media tells him to think… I just hope the rest of the day has at least a fraction of the tolerance that he has."

"Don't be so negative…" Leyla tells Spades, "You won't have fun if you keep saying you won't. You worry too much."

"I know, I know. So do you," he replies. "Anyway, the theater is this way." He gestures down one of the main roads.

Leyla squeezes his hand affectionately and walks with him down the sidewalk.

The streets of Boston were chilly and windy this time of year. Commuters of all kinds were bundled up as they criss-cross through the city streets. The ever-constant buzz of cars and busses were the lifeblood of this metropolis.

Though very conscious of his surroundings, Spades tries to ignore any feelings of insecurity he got from the occasional glance of some bystander. No one had stopped them yet, and no one had bothered them, but Spades couldn't help but think they were all talking about them when they weren't looking.

Leyla seems more oblivious to it. She takes a few steps ahead and tugs Spades along, "Come on! We're gonna be late!"

Spades returns his attention to Leyla. He understands what she was doing, trying to distract him from his thoughts. He appreciates the effort, as futile as it may be, so he humors her by quickening his pace. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

They stop at a corner to cross the street and cut through the Boston Commons. Along the way, they see children playing, but a couple older boys are shoving around one of the younger kids.

The younger child starts screaming and flailing as the older boys knock him to the ground and laugh.

Spades can't help but grow deeply angry as he watched this. He knows what it's like to be in that child's position. When he was young, he was often the victim of bullying much like this. He turns to Leyla, "Hang on… I can't stand this sort of thing." He walks toward the boys.

Leyla raises an eyebrow and follows, though tells Spades, "There's a police officer over there…"

Spades looks at the officer standing on the park's path way, but despite glancing in this direction several times, the officer does nothing but ignore the squabble.

The older boys were a year or two younger than Spades, teenagers, picking on some mere child who was only ten at the most. One of them hits the younger boy off the back of the head. "F*ggot!" they tease.

Spades walks up and grabs their shoulders to turn them around, "Who the hell are you two?"

The boys turn around, both grinning. "None of your f—king business. That's who." One of them pushes Spades back.

Spades holds his ground and steps forward. He looks between the boys and tells the younger child, "Run."

The younger child stands up and darts off.

One of the older boys turns to grab the child, but Spades snags his shirt and pulls him back. Immediately, the boy turns around to punch Spades, who takes a strike across the cheek.

Spades stumbles back now. A temptation arose to simply incinerate both these idiots. Still, for now, he just held the boys and gave them no reaction.

Possibly confused by the lack of a retaliation, the boy who hit Spades starts struggling and jerking at his shirt, "What the f—k! Let me go!"

Spades simply replies, "No," and keeps a firm grip, though he has trouble maintaining it.

The other boy tries to shove Spades again to get him off, which instead causes Spades to trip backwards on a lump of dirty snow. He falls to the ground, and braces himself for a possible kick, but he maintains his grip on the two boys. When the strike doesn't come, Spades gets to his knees and then stands back up again.

The boy who hit Spades starts yelling at him, "I'm not afraid of you!"

Spades looks him dead in the eye and replies, "I don't think you are, but I don't care."

The boy hesitates now, as if unable to say anything else. Instead, he gets ready to hit Spades again when suddenly they hear someone yell, "YOU TWO! Go home!!" A police officer was walking toward them with his nightstick out.

Spades turns the boys loose, who immediately take off running. Leyla, who had moved closer to the action during the exchange, now runs up to Spades to hug him tightly. "You ok?" she asks, checking the scuff on his cheek.

The officer asks, "What happened here?"

Leyla explains, "Those two boys were picking on some little kid."

"I stopped them," Spades says, even with a small but proud smile on his face.

The officer looks somewhat displeased. "You have to mind your own business, kid."

"With all due respect officer, I felt I had a debt to pay."

"What kind of debt?" he asks.

Spades tells him, "When I was little, I used to be bullied all the time. Someone even tried to follow me home one day on my school bus just to beat me up. Then, for no real reason, another student just doing the right thing protected me and prevented the fight from ever happening… I wanted to do the same for this kid."

The officer pauses for a moment, then turns to speak to Leyla, but double glances seeing her green skin. "What the—? Wait, are you one of those Titans?"

Leyla nods, "We are…"

The officer looks back and fourth between them, frustrated.

Spades can tell he's having a lot of inner conflict right now. He shakes his head in anticipation of the man's desire to fine Spades. "Look, if you're planning on giving me any charges, just get it over with. I'll pay them, and I won't resist." Spades knows full-well that he can overpower any of these officers.

"No, you're under arrest for assault and battery."

Spades crosses his arms, "Look… You could see for yourself that I did nothing to harm those boys. On the other hand, they were free to assault and torment a young child."

"I don't care. I didn't see that."

"Bullshit!" Spades exclaims, "I saw you standing on the corner there!"

"You're still under arrest."

Spades growls, "Ok, fine. _Arrest me._"

Leyla steps away from Spades feeling a sudden wave of heat off his body. She looks at him nervously, "Jer?"

The snow begins melting around Spades's feet. The officer wasn't sure what to make of this.

Spades holds out his wrists, "Well?"

"Threatening a law enforcement officer is illegal," the officer says.

Spades grins, "Threats? I have made no threats. The threat is a fabrication of your own imagination… or rather, your natural instinct screaming at you that this is a _bad idea…_"

The officer stares at Spades's wrists. He hesitates and even takes a step back feeling the heat from Spades. "… Never mind, you're free to go," he grumbles and walks away.

Leyla grabs Spades's arm, but then yelps as her hand is burnt. She instead picks up a snowball to hit him in the face. "JER!" she yells.

Spades winces at the snowball. "AH! What?!" He snaps out of his trance and looks at Leyla, "What is it?"

Leyla stares at him. "What the hell was that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You just scared off a cop!!"

"What does he expect, attempting to arrest a super hero?!" he spat.

"SPADES!!" Leyla screams, "There wasn't anything 'heroic' about that!!"

"So long as I protect this city, they will do as I damn well please!"

"You sound like Zero!" she cries out.

"I am nothing like Zero! His stupidity is an embarrassment to our cause!"

"Listen to yourself!!"

"I am bringing a new era to this society!" Spades exclaims. "If you were _smart_ enough to see that—"

Leyla slaps him hard across the face.

Spades doubles back, stunned. He just stares at her, wide-eyed.

Leyla was in tears now. "Forget it… I'm going home…" Leyla turns into a dove and quickly flutters away.

Spades starts to realize the things he had been saying. "Leyla, wait!" He tries to run after her, but she's already far above the treetops of the park, and soon out of sight.


	17. A Meeting of the Minds, Part 1

**A Meeting of the Minds; Part 1**

Spades continues onward through the icy streets of Boston. Once again, he is alone… Not even Avro was around anymore to say anything. Spades wanders aimlessly for a couple hours until he hears a voice in his head.

Raven is using telepathy to contact Spades. _"Everything is ready back at the tower. Meet me there."_

Spades looks up at the skyline where Titans Tower rises above almost every other structure in the city. He takes a deep breath and uses a portal to skip the otherwise tedious walk back home. He wanted to avoid Leyla. He didn't want her to even look at him now that he was so ashamed.

The travel through the portal is quick. In only a few steps, he reappears in the tower's library, where the lights were turned out, and the skylight above was blocked. The walls and book shelves are sterile white, and the library has a much more modernized look and feel to it. However, Raven had darkened it until the walls turned gray, with only a few mere candles illuminating the scene. It reminds Spades of Raven's apartment back in Jump City.

Raven, who was sitting in a large chalk-drawn circle on the floor, warns Spades, "What we're about to do is very dangerous… and there will be some things that might be too much for you… If you want me to hold back—"

"No, give me everything," Spades replies, indifferent.

Raven nods, "Very well… Take your seat."

Spades takes off his jacket and lets it fall outside the circle.

Raven closes her eyes, "Clear your mind and then enter my own. Imagine yourself leaving your body."

"Understood," Spades sits on the opposite edge of the circle, facing Raven. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Slowly, his thoughts begin to melt away. The faint glow of the candles dies away into pitch black.

Spades then saw himself in a large, dark, empty room. A doorway appears in front of him. He hears Raven's voice, _"Are you ready?"_

"I am."

The door opens. A strong wind pushes through as Spades walks past the frame. In an instant, his world is illuminates, and then he reappears in a strange wasteland. He's standing upon a floating rock in a dark, starry abyss. It looked like an asteroid field, except all the rocks were flat on the top.

Raven lands in front of him, dressed in a white cloak and leotard in contrast to her normal, much darker clothing. "I'm going to start from the beginning… This is where my life began, or what I know of it from stories the monks told me."

Suddenly, the world disappears again in a flash of white light. Instead, clouds appear all around, and a clear blue sky overhead, becoming a place that looked like heaven. Then, a spire thrust up from beneath the mist, towering into the blue above. A second appears moments later, then a third, then a fifth, then a ninth, until mighty towers are rising up all around them as they descend through the cool clouds.

Spades feels himself set down on a brick walk way. He stares upward to see an ancient city all around him. The beauty and power of the spectacle made his hair stand on end.

Then, Spades hears the giggle of a young girl. He turns his attention back to the courtyard he was in. He sees black birds fluttering about and a little girl with violet hair chasing them, laughing and smiling…

Spades watches the young girl closely. He knew it was Raven. An older man dressed in white robes comes into the court yard to pick Raven up and tell her something, wagging his finger at him like a parent.

"_This is Azarath… or so it once was."_ Raven's voice echoes through the air. _"These were the monks that raised me in place of my mother."_

The monk carries Raven off from sight. The scene changes again, and now it is night time. Spades was now within the walls of the temple, where he could see a room at the end of the corridor. Inside, the young Raven was curled up under her bed covers and lay sound asleep. Outside, however, there monks huddle together and chatter amongst themselves. They sound nervous, even hopeless as they debated what to do with Raven.

"_They knew what I was destined for… They tried convincing themselves to destroy me, but they could not bring themselves to commit the deed. They loved me like a daughter."_

Abruptly, the walls come crashing down around Spades. The world erupts in flames, and Spades can see the monolith that is Trigon storming through the city streets, demolishing towers, killing innocents, until he came to the temple where Raven grew up…

Spades watches in horror as markings light all over Raven's tiny body. She begins screaming with immense pain as Trigon's influence forces her to slaughter the very same men who raised her.

Finally, the vision fades into bright light again. Raven at her normal age appears in front of Spades, still in her white cloak, but her hood was up now. "Forgive me… Even I have trouble handling some of my memories, at times."

Spades falls silent and speechless aside from a single word, "… Understandable."

"Though Azarath still exists, and has since been rebuilt, it is a mere shadow of its former glory… After that horrible day, I came to earth."

She holds out her closed hand. She slowly opens it, and from her palm a crumpled leaf falls to the ground. As it floats to their feet, the world again begins to change. This time, the white light dissolves away, until a night sky above was apparent. Stars scatter across the heavens, and then Spades's view is obstructed by the canopy of many trees. He hears footsteps in the leaves and twigs. He turns his attention to the source of the sound. This time, he saw Raven still as a young girl, but perhaps three or four years older than she was in the last vision. Raven looks like she was maybe eleven years old. She creeps through the bushes and branches until she reaches the edge of a playground.

Spades can see children there. One of them points out Raven, who retreats into the shadows again in reaction.

"_I was very nervous around humans at first, but I hoped that somehow they would be able to help me stop my father…"_

The vision transforms now. Raven is older, now a young teenager in Jump City. This was the day that the original Teen Titans met. Starfire had crashed on earth after escaping a slaver's spaceship. Though violent at first, while a battle ensued, it came to an end when it was understood that Starfire meant no harm. Spades sees Beast Boy when he was still in his old purple 'Doom Patrol' uniform, and Cyborg when he was young and still shiny with new parts. Starfire of course brings back memories for Spades, back while she was still childish and naïve, and then finally Raven, who Spades still remembers as she once acted toward everyone; quiet, stoic, calm, and insightful.

However, the world lights in an inferno once more. Raven is a little girl again, but this time, something is different. While Trigon marches through the harbor of the Jump City ruins, now nothing but an ocean of lava, Spades sees a bolt of green light strike him in the face from Starfire, then a beam of blue plasma from Cyborg, and several explosions from Robin's weapons. Soon after, Beast Boy follows up as a green pterodactyl and slashes at Trigon's eyes.

Raven says, _"You don't remember any of this, because the world was destroyed when this happened. The reason you and everyone you know still exist today is because the Titans saved me…"_

Raven's young, childish form grows suddenly, and her body matures. She towers several stories high as she unleashes the final blow on Trigon, banishing him to another realm for the last time—or that's what they thought.

Everything fades again. Spades is overwhelmed by the dramatic story, though it had been told to him in mere minutes. Everything was so vivid, that Spades was still sweating from the heat of the fiery realm that Trigon created in that last memory. However, Spades realizes he is still in Raven's mind.

Raven is standing in front of him once more, wearing her white cloak at her current age. "There is one more." The setting changes again. The white world begins to fill with colors of gray and chrome, black and blue, until those colors began forming into many squares and trapezoids. A city materializes around them.

Spades realizes, "I recognize this place…" Just then, he sees a young boy with a sword approaching him. Smoke billows from a bank near by, and several criminals were tied up on the sidewalk. Spades looks to his sides where he could see the other Teen Titans standing. Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy… but where was Raven? He quickly figures out that he's seeing this through her eyes.

The young boy talks with Robin for a moment, until the boy turns to Spades. He smiles and tries to introduce himself, but Spades feels this foreign surge of anger and fear. He backs away from the boy, who frowns in confusion. Beast Boy tells the boy, "Don't mind Raven. She's just shy."

Spades feels his jaw move and hears Raven's voice in his ears, "I am not shy."

Beast Boy teases, "Oh really? Then say hi to the newest Teen Titan!" He pushes the boy forward.

The boy smiles again, "The name's Jeremy. Nice to meet you." He extends his hand.

Spades still feels the foreign hesitation, but now he's experiencing his own as well. He couldn't help but stare at the boy in awe… It was him, two years before the disaster, back when he was a normal kid aside from just discovering his weaker powers. The sword the boy held was even burned into Spades's memory. However, that sword was a mark of his sins. It had magic powers, but it was given to him by one of the Teen Titans' enemies with the intent to join them and destroy them from the inside. At the time, Spades had been convinced that their superpowers resulted in suffering, and that death would be more merciful than life. Meeting the Titans taught Spades otherwise.

Spades remembers how he nearly went through with the plan, but then had a change of heart when he met Leyla about a month after the time of this memory.

Finally, everything disappears for the last time. Spades closes his eyes and waits. He feels himself pulled away from the ground beneath his feet, and soon he's on his rear instead, his legs crossed, and both hands on his lap. He opens his eyes again to find them back in the tower library.

Raven too returns to this world. Her blue gaze follows Spades as he looks over himself with curiosity. Was it all really an illusion? Spades thought. Though in the depths of his heart, he was afraid because Raven was about to have him do the same. If everything was this realistic, especially when the most painful of his memories came to mind, Spades wasn't sure he'd be able to handle himself.

It was silent again. Spades can even hear the faint ticking of a clock on the wall near by. Spades felt like his head was spinning. It actually felt foreign to be back in his body after that experience.

A few minutes pass by until finally, Raven breaks the silence. "Anything you want to say?"

"I'm not even sure where to begin… I suppose there are some things I have been wrong about."

"Like what?"

"Like saying how you had a loving mother and how I don't…" He felt guilty now. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I didn't think it was necessary."

"Why not? I mean, where _was _your mother in those memories? If I knew, maybe I'd act differently during our training."

"It doesn't matter. She was afraid of me. However, I didn't want your sympathy, or you'd have been learning for the wrong reasons. Despite not having her, I still grew strong, and even defeated my father…"

"True…" He goes quiet again.

"Are you ready?" Raven asks.

Spades doesn't reply right away, "Give me a minute…"

Raven can see his hesitation. "This is something you have to do, Spades…"

"I know. I know…" Spades sighs deeply, deciding it best to just get it over with. "How do we begin?"

"Open your mind." Raven closes her eyes again.

Spades reluctantly does the same. He begins to chant quietly to himself, _"Saaa-taaa naaa-maaa."_ The chant calms his heart beat and steadies his hands. His thoughts begin to fade until the only consciousness he had was the darkness alone.

That eerie silence soon began ringing in his ears. He can hear his own heart beat after a minute or two. He's only disturbed when he hears Raven let out a long sigh.

Spades continues drifting deeper and deeper into his trance, until everything feels numb. It's like he's floating on air after a while, but the air is perfectly still.


	18. A Meeting of the Minds, Part 2

**A Meeting of the Minds; Part 2**

It's time to open his eyes. Once again, Spades is in a dark room with nothing but a door in front of him. Spades sees the knob shaking. He walks over to it and opens it wide. Raven floats through it, now in her regular blue cloak. However, her body is transparent.

Spades closes the door. As he does, the four walls around them fall away. They are in a library again, but this time the walls extend hundreds of yards in all four direction from the entrance. On the right side of the huge room, there was an entrance to a childish place. Toy soldiers scattered across the room, frozen in eternal conflict. Video games were played by phantom figures that laughed and swore at their conquests and defeats. Numerous images of Leyla float through the air, along with memories of their experiences together.

However, this section is separated from the other by a large old library with shelves that tower to the ceiling. Raven can't help but pick up one of the books, but she asks Spades before opening it. "Do you mind?"

Spades shakes his head, "Not at all. Go ahead."

Raven opens the book, but as she begins to read, the words inside melt away. An ink-like substance rises from the pages instead. It surrounds the two of them and begins swirling faster and faster… Eventually, it engulfs the both of them, surrounding them in black ink. Then, as quickly as it came, the substance sweeps away in an instant.

The library is gone. Instead, they are in an old apartment house. Everything towers above them including the doors and shelves. There are boxes everywhere and a moving van outside. Just then, they feel themselves picked up off the ground. "Come on Jeremy," they hear a deeper, older voice say.

Spades and Raven turn their heads to see Spades's father. Spades couldn't bear to see his face though. "Stop it… Just stop it now," Spades declares.

The world liquefies again into black ink, which splashes to the ground. They are again standing in the old library. Spades is on the verge of tears already. He holds it in, but tells Raven, "Let's at least try to find something relevant to our cause… There are probably a million books here… Let's not go through every one of them."

"Where do you think we should start, then?" Raven asks.

Spades looks up and down the shelves, and then picks up another book further down the row. He opens it to allow the ink to again spiral from the pages and surround them both.

This time they are in an empty house. Outside the window, which was almost too high to see from, there are moving vans again, but the surroundings are different outside. Things are being carried into the house. They are standing in an open, empty, white rugged room with blue walls.

"Follow me," Spades tells Raven. He walks out into the kitchen of the house and through a short hallway to the driveway. Outside in the front, they see the same young boy playing in the leaves.

However, this time he is joined by another, who is apparently the neighbor. Spades explains, "I was about four at the time. This kid is Nick, my best friend for many years. He was a year younger than me, a mere three years old, yet we grew up together… He was like a brother to me. This was the day I moved to Methuen. I lived there for well over a decade."

The surroundings melt away. Spades picks up another book to allow a new memory to start playing. It is at a school now. The boy from before gets punched in the face by an older student and begins crying.

Raven clenches her fists seeing this. Spades tells her, "I was often picked on by other kids, so one day, I started fighting back… Something in me snapped that day." The boy gets up and grabs the older student by the arm and bites down on it. He sinks his teeth into the older student's flesh until he starts screaming. However, the vision transforms to a new one where the boy's father is yelling at him and punishing him. "However, that violent force was crushed and beaten down by a far greater force than my own, or so I thought at the time."

"Your father?" Raven asks, "Were you afraid of him?"

"Much so, but I respected him. He certainly had the capabilities of a demon," Spades smiles faintly, "But his heart was far more kind. Not all demons are evil."

Their surroundings fall apart and splash to the floor where the ink disappears. Spades searches for another book. "But let's go back a few years before this… It's the day I first began to realize something was different about me. I was three years old."

This time, the book cover was black. As he opens the volume, the ink is instead written in dark violet. The ink rises from the book and engulfs Raven and Spades as quickly as before, but this time they are in a dark bedroom on the third floor of a large house.

They were seeing it through Spades's eyes when he was this young. He is awake in the middle of the night while a full moon gazed through his open window.

Upon the dresser beside his bed, a figure began to appear. Spades mutters, "To this day, I don't know if this was real, or if it was a dream…" A white light appears. Spades watches it, his hair standing on end as the light forms into a humanoid figure and simply floats there. Raven and Spades could both feel the memory of the sheer terror that overwhelmed Spades on that evening. Spades continues, "What I didn't know at the time was that this was the day that my grandfather on my mother's side of the family passed away. I believe now that this was his phantom come to tell me he was ok… but I remember no words."

The figure fades. A digital clock on the dresser moves ahead by several hours. Now it is midnight. They hear a low growl.

Raven asks, "What was that?"

Spades replies, "To this day… I do not know."

Suddenly, they feel something bite over both their legs. Spades, accustomed to the memory by now, completely ignores it. Raven however does exactly what he did when this happened to him. She starts kicking and flailing, though tries not to scream at first. However, as the hidden beast snarls and thrashes its head, hidden under the covers with Raven's legs in its jaws, even she begins to panic. She raises her fist to retaliate, and then pulls away the blanket, but instantly the pain disappears. There was nothing there.

"I was as surprised as you are…" Spades says, "But this is where the memory ends." The world around them dissolves until they are back in the library.

Raven puts her hand on her chest, still breathing heavily. Still, it only took a moment to regain her composure. She pulls her hood up before turning to Spades again.

Spades turns back toward the book shelf and searches for another record of his past. Finally, he opens a new book, though it is also black. "Here is another encounter I experienced years later… shortly after the death of my grandfather on my father's side."

A new scene materializes. This time, a great sadness penetrates their hearts. They are in a funeral home. The boy is sitting in a guest room of the home during a wake. A girl is sitting close by. "That was my sister."

The girl suddenly looks up, her attention caught by a figure moving past the door. "Is there someone outside?" The boy approaches the doorway. Raven and Spades follow. The boy opens the door and looks outside, both ways. It's perfectly silent. Not even the wind is blowing in the night. The boy pulls the door firmly closed and begins to walk away.

Suddenly the door opens again by its self and slowly open wide, creaking eerily as it did, but there was still no one there. The boy turns around and stares at the passage, astonished. The girl begins to panic and quickly flees from the room, unable to believe what she just saw.

The world melts and transforms again. It's daytime now, during the funeral itself. The man in front, behind an altar, lists a few of the mourners who had come. He thanks them by name. Some of the guests are unexpected, others even unwanted and hated by the deceased. This became especially obvious when the name of one family friend was mentioned. This woman was in fact loathed by the boy's grandfather during life. None the less, she had come to pay her respects and possibly apologize.

One of the roses placed upon the grandfather's urn snaps and falls, as if someone had pinched the stem between their nails. A gasp sweeps over the crowd at first, but then a faint sense of relief, possibly in the evidence of an afterlife.

Raven asks, "What significance does this have?"

"It had been my belief for years that there is something more to mankind. However, I had been skeptical until this moment. After this, I began studying ghosts, until I eventually came across some lesser magic."

It had become all too familiar by now. The world disintegrates once more, leaving them in the library of Spades's mind. Spades returns the book to its shelf, and then finally picks up one more, this one marked with a crimson pentagram on the cover. It is the mark of the infamous Satanist.

This book opens with a whirlwind of fire this time. A sense of pride and belonging fills the air. They come to the boy again, now fifteen years old, reading Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible.

Spades explains, "This book taught me the difference between hocus pocus and the true magic that exists in all that has a soul. It taught me to embrace it rather than suppress it, as others might have advised. This book taught me many of the philosophies in life I still believe to this day… and the words of this book helped me cope with the tragedy that was to come a year later..." The scene goes up in smoke and they are back in the old library again.

Raven, who had been quiet for some time, speaks up now. "You misinterpret the words of LaVey, Spades. He advocated for healthy indulgence, not unbridled emotion."

"I disagree. It is implied how unhealthy it is to keep your feelings hidden, whether they be anger, joy, sadness, lust, or any other."

Raven lets out a deep, long sigh. "Why must you always debate with me, Spades?"

"We grew up differently, Raven. Your powers were capable of great destruction if you did not control them. Mine—"

"Are just as threatening," Raven interrupts. "Spades, I have a lifetime worth of experience more than you. I had been taught and trained as far back as I can remember, that's what's different. You stumbled upon your powers with no one to explain them. Whether or not you were born with them, you only began using them when you became a teenager."

"None the less, my point remains valid."

"It doesn't, Spades…" Raven sighs again, "But fine… You'll figure it out sooner or later…" Raven begins walking past Spades, toward the left end of the library, further and further away from the childish section at the right side of the room. She instead proceeds until the lights fail to reach and properly illuminate the area.

Spades watches her go, but then runs to stop her, "Where do you think you're going?"

Raven tells him, "The restricted section—your subconscious. Your conscious memories aren't telling me enough. I want to know everything, Spades. I want to know what you've forgotten." Raven crosses the threshold into the darkest, dustiest parts of the library, but suddenly, she steps in a puddle of something. She glances down at it, and then steps back in mild shock. "Is that blood?"

Spades blinks and looks down at it. He kneels to trail his fingers through the crimson pool. It had begun to coagulate, but it was indeed blood. Spades stands again to see that several book cases had been toppled. The blood leads off in a trail. Some of the books are scattered on the floor, some of them even stained.

Raven avoids the blood while approaching the downed shelves. "The place has been ransacked… as if it had been robbed."

Spades checks the shelves, and then counts the books on the floor. "Nothing's actually missing, but who would be going through my things in the first place—?" Spades suddenly catches a glimpse of a marking where one of the bookshelves once stood against the perimeter of the room. There upon the wall was a large "S" charred into the woodwork.

Raven sees it as well, "_Scath…_ Trigon was here…"

Spades inspects the walls and floor. There were claw marks everywhere. "A battle took place here…" Spades begins to wonder if this has anything to do with Avro's disappearance.

Raven notices one of the books on a damaged shelf was somehow still in place. The trail of blood leads up to it. Though the shelves were still crooked from the fight, that single book defies logic and remains in place. Raven tries to remove the book, but instead hears a machine start cranking behind the wall. "Spades… What's this?" She pulls the book back as far as it will go. The wall begins to slide down.

Spades stares as the passage opens wide. Behind it is a dark corridor lit only by faint torches with a strange blue fire.

Raven walks inside, picking up one of the torches and leading the way.

Spades tries to stop her, "Raven, wait! We don't know what's down there… _I_ don't even know."

"Then there's only one way to find out." She doesn't even stop, instead continuing down the passage.

Spades reluctantly grabs one of the torches and runs after her into the corridor. The gates close shut behind them. Soon enough, they find more blood, more charred walls, and a new Mark of Scath on the stone walls. However, in the chamber that the marking resides, the light of the blue torch reveals a labyrinth of passages, stairways and corridors.

A single book lay on the floor. Raven looks back to Spades, easy to tell that he was anxious to put an end to this. She picks up the book and hands it to Spades. "Do you know what this is?"

Spades shakes his head, "I don't know… I don't entirely want to know… It's been locked away for a reason."

"Perhaps, but it hasn't been locked up very well… Look, the book isn't even dusty."

Spades inspects the book further. He grumbles, "Fine, but this is it. We've already traveled too far. I need to take a break. Either we ignore this book and seek others, or read this one and end it for tonight."

"Deal." Raven tells him.

"What?"

"You know what's in there, but you won't admit it. Now open it. A deal's a deal."

Spades sighs reluctantly, "Very well…" He opens the last book. The air becomes chilly and the flames of the torches go out. A swirling white snow leaps from the pages and spirals around the two of them, until everything disappears behind a blanket of white.


	19. It Was a Cold and Snowy Day

**"It was a cold and snowy day…"**

It was a cold and snowy day on December 24th, 2008. The skies are gray with clouds, while the earth below is covered in a blanket of white. An old house with an oak tree out front appears in the blizzard, and then its neighbors too become visible. Christmas ornaments decorate nearly every home. Cars buried under snow line the streets, and the sidewalks are pinned beneath the weight of a billion tiny crystals.

The snow flakes fall in thick clumps, and there isn't a single footprint to disrupt the beautiful white serenity of the world. Raven finally appears in the scene, though her footsteps leave no marks on her path. She looks around and calls quietly, "Spades..?" She gets no response this time. It's so cold that she has to bundle herself up in her cloak and pull her hood down over her face to protect her self. Just then, she hears an angry cry from inside the house.

Having caught her attention, she leans up to the window of the old home and peers inside. A Christmas tree sat in the living room, though it has no decorations. There is an older woman yelling and arguing with someone who appeared to be her daughter. Raven recognizes the younger girl from the vision Spades showed her of his late grandfather.

Just then, the father joins in. Though previously a heartwarming figure to Raven, she finds herself surprised and even frightened to find that very same man begin yelling at the top of his lungs. His deep voice reminded her vaguely of Trigon. She cannot understand the words of the conversation, but she finally sees Spades inside the house, walking toward the window.

Raven backs away at first, but Spades simply stands at the window, staring outside, oblivious to Raven's presence. His hands are clenched in fists. The father is watching him and still yelling. Spades doesn't react at first, but Raven can see the sheer rage that his tense posture implies.

The yelling continues despite Spades's attempts to ignore it. At long last, Spades turns around, and with a furious tone that Raven had never yet heard from Spades, he bellows out, "**EVERY F—KING CHRISTMAS, IT'S ALL THE SAME!! THIS IS WHY I HATE THE HOLIDAYS!!**" His voice was loud enough to penetrate the walls, allowing Raven to hear every word.

Raven stares in through the window as the father yells back, but Spades only replies in kind. Spades even approaches his father, yelling louder and louder, until it sounds like he'd simply pass out from lack of breath.

The father grabs Spades by the neck and slams him up against the wall and starts yelling at him even more, possibly in an attempt to frighten him into submission. Now the mother starts screaming at the both of them. The daughter joins in even while it is none of her concern. Despite the father's fear tactics, however, Spades does not back down in the least. The threats instead bolster his will, perhaps out of fear, or perhaps just because he had grown sick of this behavior.

The father finally brings his hand back and delivers a blow from the back of his hand across Spades's face in an attempt to silence him. It does the opposite, and Spades unleashes a violent fury of fists upon his father, who is too awestruck by the display of his own son to even fight back now. He instead tries to block what few blows he can.

Spades attacks his father relentlessly. Tears are streaming down his cheeks now as well. His patience and his innocence are broken. The final blow he delivers before fleeing is a punch to his father's nose, breaking and bleeding it. With crimson stains on his knuckles, Spades stands there for a moment until he sees the blood on his hands. He grabs his coat and storms out the door a moment afterward. Though he does not run, it's obvious to Raven that he's trying to get away before everyone else realizes what actually just happened. Raven watches Spades walk down the snowy driveway and into the quiet street. She rushes after him and follows.

They soon find their way to the end of the street and cross the intersection. Spades barely stops for cars, which skid and swerve in an effort to avoid him as he blindly crosses the road. Raven tries to grab Spades by the shoulder, but her hand fades through him, and he keeps walking without even noticing.

In a minute or two more, Spades makes a sudden turn through a gate into an old schoolyard. Though the school was no longer a public building, the playground was still visited by children during the summer months. In the winter, however, there isn't a soul on the grounds except for Spades.

Raven begins feeling helpless as she watches Spades ascend a stairway into the jungle gym, to the highest floor of the playground towers. He leans on the railings and starts muttering to himself, "This is why I hate the holidays… Every god damn Christmas, it's all the same. Mom starts b*tching over stupid shit, that little brat starts yelling," He was referring to his sister, "Then _dad_ starts yelling at her, and drags me into it, then that f—king hypocrite mother tries to _protect _me?! She only makes it all _worse_!!"

"_I know you long to put an end to it, boy…"_

Raven gasps when she hears Avro's voice in the memory.

Spades growls, "I'm tired of their stupidity… My mother is an idiot, my father is no better, my sister is a brat… and they haven't done a damn thing for me. Why should I care about them?"

"_They are parasites, and they always have been. Your potential is far greater than the limits they set. They are holding you back…"_

Raven can't help but speak up, "Spades, if you can hear me… Please tell me you're seeing what's happening here."

Spades doesn't make any reaction. He looks at his hands, where the blood had dried, "Yet I am stuck with them… until I'm out of college, I'm stuck with them…"

"_That is where you are wrong, Spades… You hold power they wish to suppress… You hold abilities they are afraid of… You've seen it. You tell them of your power to manipulate wind and fire! What do they do!? They tell you they are the work of fiction, pure imagination, and mere trickery of the mind!"_

The wind begins to pick up around them. It kicks up snow which circles the playground in a whirlwind. Raven backs away, "Spades… Don't listen to him…" she mutters quietly, almost begging, yet knowing full well there's nothing she can do.

Avro continues, _"Tell me these powers are but lies! Tell me this is only coincidence! Do you believe your mind is merely playing tricks on you!?"_

Spades clenches his fists. The wind increases in speed and power. Tree branches begin to snap and fall in the icy weather. The snow on the limbs falls hard to the ground.

Avro growls, _"They are unworthy to raise you… They are corrupt. Break away, and punish them for their sins!"_

Spades begins shaking with rage. "They should all f—king burn…"

"_So it is desired, so it shall be __**done**__…"_

A sudden gust of unnatural wind shoots across a section of snow, leaving a path at first, but the swirling air soon covers it up. Though Spades barely notices it, Raven can see it. Suddenly though, she feels herself pulled away from Spades and into the skies. Spades fades from sight, and she's forced to follow Avro… Raven realizes this memory doesn't belong to Spades at all.

Avro appears in the skies above as a white serpent. He turns and dives down toward the house where Spades once lived. He phases through the roof like a ghost.

Raven follows him down. She desperately wants to stop him now, but knows any attacks she may initiate would do nothing but waste her energy. She can only watch in horror as Avro sweeps through the house, jamming the windows and locking the doors. Finally, he enters the basement where his mother is smoking a cigarette to calm herself.

A black dog was lying down on some sheets, a border collie that was once the family pet. The dog is the only one to notice Avro. He gets up and starts barking and snarling directly at Avro.

Avro stares back at him still in his serpent form, grinning. Spades's mother just looks at the dog in confusion, "What's with you?" She flicks her cigarette against an ash tray. That's when Avro exploits his opportunity. Instead of in the tray, the cinders fell upon some lint that was left in the drier. It sparks a minor fire inside the waste basket that held the lint. However, when Spades's mother isn't looking, Avro takes her lighter as well and whips it into the bin. It shatters, causing lighter fluid to explode and ignite. The flames lash out in all directions, making the dog whine and bark helplessly, while the mother starts screaming.

Clothes in the basement make for useful tinder. In an instant, a ring of fire surrounds the room, trapping the woman and the dog within it. Avro leaves them to their fate and moves upstairs.

Spades's father has returned to cooking dinner for later in the evening. Avro immediately strikes, turning on all the knobs of the stove to release gas into the room. When the father starts to notice it, he immediately moves to turn it off, but Avro then turns one knob back to light the burner. A fireball erupts from the stove top, scorching the father with mild injuries, but also setting fire to anything near by that can burn. Paper towels go up in flames, and the cupboards begin to char. Smoke alarms start going off in the house as smoke seeps up through the floor from the inferno below. The screaming becomes unbearable. The father rushes to the sliding glass door outside to the back yard, but it's locked. He goes to grab a chair to smash out the windows instead, but the fire from the kitchen reaches the curtains which fall in the passage to stop the escape. Though he tries to seek another exit immediately, the smoke is making him weak.

Avro begins to laugh before flying upstairs to his final target. His sister was in her room on the phone, talking to her friends and complaining about the fight that just ensued. Avro shoves the door to her bedroom closed and locks it shut. She ignores the yelling below, thinking it's just her parents still fighting, until she notices smoke gathering in her room. Only then does she begin to worry, rushing to the door to open it. She thinks there might be food burning, but when she finds her door locked, she starts banging on it. Panic quickly overwhelms the poor girl as the smoke thickens…

Raven watches in horror as the last victim begins to suffer. However, Avro leaves the building now, which forces Raven to follow. He lands outside in the front yard and watches his bloody deed unfold, filled with pride.

It takes a terrible ten minutes before someone notices the fire… By then, Raven can already smell burned flesh in the air. She knows they're already dead by now. Finally, she can hear fire truck sirens in the distance, slowly approaching. Heartbreaking sadness and indescribable rage begins to consume her as she stares at Avro, who only continues laughing louder as the roof begins to burn.

Still, there isn't a thing she can do to stop, it, and she's fully conscious of that terrible fact. The fire trucks arrive and begin trying to put out the flames, but Avro sabotages their equipment, severs lines, and rips apart control panels on the trucks from the inside. The firefighters can't even figure out why their machines are failing.

The fire rages on for another twenty minutes while gray smoke towers into the sky. Avro turns to look down the street. Raven follows his gaze to see Spades running as fast as he can toward the burning house. A police officer stops him from running any further. Spades begins screaming and yelling, even hitting the police officer in an attempt to get past him, which only forces the officer to restrain Spades.

Tears are streaming down his eyes by now. Even Raven begins to break down seeing this. Despite her origin, she has never seen something this overwhelming in her life…

After many failures, Avro finally releases their equipment. The fire fighters immediately spray the house with water to at least put out enough flames for them to get inside. They cut down the front door with their axes, but as soon as they are in, the roof buckles in the center and they are forced to evacuate. "It's coming down!" One firefighter yells out.

At long last, the roof caves in on its self. Fire and ashes rise into the gray skies as a gentle snow begins to fall again. The inferno catches the oak tree in the front yard, igniting its branches and setting it aflame. Cinders rise into the air as the leaves crackle and incinerate.

Raven can't stand to watch any more of this. She's crying by now, unable to cope with the helplessness of her position as a mere spectator. "How doesn't Spades know about this?" she asks herself.

After a few minutes more, the snow begins to fall harder until it is a blizzard again. Everything is concealed behind a thick sheet of white for a moment until a hole of darkness appears through the blinds. It progresses throughout the scene, until Raven is back in the labyrinth with Spades again.

Spades is sitting down against the wall. "Raven?" He looks up to see her crying. His eyes widen, "What happened in there? The last thing I remember was snow surrounding us, but then the snow disappeared and you were gone."

Raven puts her hand over her face to wipe away her tears. She's shaking uncontrollably. "When I can think straight… I'll explain…"

Spades takes her arm, "Enough of this. Let's get out of this place." Spades leads her to the exit and finally begins to untie the bond. The rooms dissolve around them, until everything turns black once again.

When they open their eyes, they are no longer in the old library. Instead, they are in the library at Titans Tower, back in the real world. The mind melding ritual was over.


	20. Titans East

**Titans East**

They were silent for some time. Neither Raven, nor Spades knew what to say. Only when they hear a soft knock on the library door do they look up from their seats.

Leyla is standing there, "Oh… Sorry…" she says quietly, "I didn't know I was interrupting—"

Spades says as softly as he can, "You're not interrupting anything, don't worry… Leyla, are you alright?" He is struck with the still poignant memory of the events earlier that day.

"I should be asking you… How's your face?" She tries to insert something to chuckle about, though cannot keep her forced smile.

Spades also tries to trivialize it, "Oh, its fine… Not like it left any marks." The frail attempts to make the day's events laughable only served to make the conversation feel empty. Still, Spades cannot shake the urge to apologize for his actions. He stands up, "Leyla?" He pauses for a moment, "Raven, do you mind?" He gestures for Raven to stand outside.

"Not at all." She stands up and gathers the candles, which had burnt out in the time that they were in their trance. She uses a wave of telekinesis to remove the blinds from the skylights, though it's already dark outside anyway. She leaves the room, floating past Leyla. Neither of them make any eye contact.

Spades tells Leyla, "Come in… I'm not going to hurt you…"

"I don't think you will," Leyla says, "That must have been Avro earlier."

"Actually, Leyla, that's what scares me. That happened _without_ Avro's influence…"

"Oh…" Leyla falls silent again, looking away.

Spades still hugs her tightly from behind, "I'm sorry, Leyla… I don't want to turn into one of those so-called men. If I begin to physically or mentally harm you… do away with me immediately."

"You're not like that, though. Otherwise you'd never say something like that."

"True, I suppose… but people change."

"Love doesn't…" Finally, Leyla can't help but smile slightly and try to suppress a giggle, "Oh god—that was so corny."

Spades is allowed to laugh as well now. "Amusing, indeed… But seriously, I hope for our sake that I haven't become that already. If I ever do, just promise me you'll break away."

"_I knoooow_… Jeeze, you worry too much." She shoves him gently.

Spades smiles slightly, "So do you… There's just a lot of stuff going on for me lately. Raven thinks—" Spades stops himself.

"Thinks what?" Leyla asks, her pointed ears twitching and tilting in his direction.

"… I probably shouldn't tell you."

"Keeping secrets is a sign of a mentally abusive lover," she crosses her arms and sticks her tongue out at him.

"So is a guilt trip," he gives her a false angry glare, but then snickers to himself.

Leyla smiles, "See? You can't stay mad at me!" She grabs the back of his shirt and pulls him over. "I got you whipped," she kisses his cheek.

Spades laughs, "Hardly…"

Raven is standing in the doorway now, "I feel like I just swallowed a sugar packet…"

"Well, nyah!" Leyla makes a face at Raven, then hugs Spades again.

Raven continues, "I hate to interrupt, but Triard tells me we have a guest."

Spades raises an eyebrow, "A guest? Who? … Send them up."

Raven nods and floats away into the corridor.

Leyla meanwhile looks up to Spades, "Sooo… you wanna maybe try again for our date sometime?" she asks. "No beating up people this time." She shoves him by the hip.

Spades shoves her back and chuckles, leaving the room. "Come on, Leyla…"

Leyla grabs Spades's leather jacket off the floor and nags, "Ugh! You make such a mess!" Of course, she's teasing.

Spades takes the jacket and pulls it over his arms while he enters the tower living room. There on the couch, Serena is chatting with Zero while drinking some soda.

Leyla's ears fold back seeing Serena. "Oh… It's just her."

Spades asks, "So, what's up?"

"You wouldn't guess what I found!" she giggles.

Spades sighs, "Get on with it."

"Why you in such a cranky mood?" Serena pouts.

Spades replies, "Because I have no time for games. Out with it, Serena."

"Fine…" Serena complains. "I found out more about the Mazda hideouts."

Raven asks, "You mean the Mythic Dawn?"

"Yea, those freaks. Anyway, I found a new hideout of theirs…" Serena continues. "It's in New Jersey."

"Where exactly?" Spades inquires.

"On the coast, in Steel City. They're moving there as a backup to the old hideout in Salem."

"Then we should go now before they regroup."

Leyla grabs his arm, "All of us, right?"

"Yes, yes, all of us…" Spades assures Leyla with a smile. "Titans, let's move out!"

After leaving Titans North, the journey to New Jersey takes all but a few hours when they take the most direct route over the ocean. Spades would have used his portal to get them there faster, but Serena refuses to walk through the gates of Hell. Instead, Raven ferries the both of them with her powers, riding on a wide black disk once again.

Zero flies over in the shape of a goose. He lands on Raven's disk and turns to normal in order to complain, "We need a super vehicle for our super team… This is stupid, and my arms are tired."

Raven glares at him. "You have wings, so you can fly. Now use them."

"Naw," Zero sprawls on the disk. "I feel like taking a nap."

Raven opens a hole in the disk which Zero immediately falls through.

Zero yipes and turns into a goose again to avoid falling. He honks at Raven before soaring above them to fly in formation with Leyla, who was using the form of an eagle.

Triard flies behind them. At last he calls to the others, "I can see lights ahead. It must be Steel City."

"This is an unusual location," Spades comments. "There's nothing of value in this city to a cultists attempting black magic. There are no monuments, no holy sites, no—"

"There is Brother Blood," Raven states.

"Brother who?" Spades asks.

"Brother Blood, leader of the Church of Blood, and the former dean of the H.I.V.E. academy. It was basically a school for super powered teenagers, though he turned them into villains instead."

Spades turns his attention back toward the coast. In the night, the city lights illuminate the land beyond the shores. They would be landing soon. Spades calls to Serena, "You know exactly where they are setting up?"

"I do." Serena stands up and points toward a cove, "There, beneath that cliff."

Raven banks toward the coast, flying below the cliffs. They notice a tall building against the cliff face, beneath an industrial complex on the outskirts of the city.

Serena points to the building. "In there."

Spades watches the tower come into view. "… That's Titans East, isn't it?"

"It was," Raven sighs. "After my team dissolved, the others were soon to follow. Even some of the larger super hero organizations began to fall apart… I sometimes wonder if our time is over."

Spades states, "As long as there are people like this threatening our world, our time is yet to come. Bring us to the base of the tower, Raven. We'll enter from the ground floor."

They land within the minute. Each of them set foot on the concrete platform that makes the foundation of the Titans East Tower. Titans East in its glory was one of the most technologically advanced towers, but also the smallest. It was a few stories shorter than the one in Jump City, but its architecture was far more complex. While it maintains the shape of a giant T, as all of the Titans Towers did, Titans East had blue windows with shinning chrome frames. It was constantly illuminated by the lights inside during its use.

However, today the scene is very different. The chrome no longer shines, and instead the building is scarred from the rust of sea water spraying at its frame. Many of the windows are broken, even on the upper floors. It is not uncommon to find shards of glass on the tower's base where Spades and his friends are currently standing.

The front doors are open. The interior is just as badly damaged. Spades warns his team, "Be aware of unstable floors. Watch your step."

Leyla follows Spades inside, turning into a cat to allow her steps to be light.

Triard and Zero follow afterward, with Raven floating behind them. However, Raven notices, "Serena seems to have gone missing."

Leyla groans and rolls her eyes. "She's lost already? Wow."

Spades sighs in frustration, "Triard, Zero, mind staying outside to wait for her? Zero can find us by sniffing us out… and Triard, just make sure Zero doesn't do anything stupid."

Triard nods, "Yes sir." He walks back outside.

Zero scoffs, "What are you, in the army? And why do I need to be babysat? I'm not a baby!" he complains.

Spades lets Zero's voice fade as he, Leyla, and Raven proceed into the tower. Spades ponders, "I wonder if Brother Blood is related to Ahura Mazda."

"It is possible," Raven idly replies as she follows Spades.

Leyla's pointed ears perk up. She turns to normal and looks down a corridor to their left. "I heard something." She points down the hall.

Spades takes a look down it and ignites a fireball in his hand. It only lights up so much of the area. The rest of the corridor is still hidden in shadow. "I hate this sort of thing…" Spades mumbles to himself. Now they have to walk _into_ the scary dark place. Still, Spades takes the lead. Using his powers, he keeps the fireball alight as they proceed further into the building.

They hear a crash from one of the adjacent rooms. Spades reflexively launches the fireball inside, frightening a rat which comes darting out into the hall and out of sight. Spades forges a new flame so they can see, "God damn it…" he grumbles as his heart beats fast.

"Aww, it was just a little mousey," Leyla snickers a little before shrieking and jumping into Spades's arms.

Raven had tapped her on the shoulder. She pauses for a moment, staring at them. "Stop messing around you two… Spades, look in here." She pushes open a broken door and stands aside.

Spades proceeds into the room. As the fire illuminates the scene, it reveals markings all over the walls and floors. It sends a chill down his spine to the point where he actually backs out of the room. "They've already been here."

A new voice makes its self known. "Sure have, kid."

Raven turns quickly, as does Leyla, prepared to attack the source of the speech. However, Spades recognizes it. "Stand down. It's friendly."

A light appears down the hall. Lucifer steps across the broken floor tiles and bits of plaster as he approaches them. His body glows in order for them to see his form.

Leyla growls instinctively. "Who the hell are you?"

Lucifer rolls his eyes, "Are you stupid, girl? I'm infamous."

Spades frowns, "Lucifer, show some more respect. You can treat me like trash for all I damn well care, but hold your tongue for the sake of Leyla."

Lucifer shrugs, "Whatever. I guess that just means double the abuse for you, kid. So, what are you three doing here?" He looks at Raven and Leyla, "A goth girl, and some green chick…" Lucifer turns his attention back to Spades. "I can't say I share your taste in women."

Spades pushes the topic forward, "What are you doing here, Lucifer?"

"Same as you, doing some research, getting some answers."

"Well, we're already looking for the cultists."

"Well no sh*t," Lucifer shakes his head, "Naw, I'm just strolling through here on my trip to the local f—kin' library! Idiot…"

Leyla sneers, "What an sshole…"

Raven glares at Lucifer, "I'm surprised a demon like you is free to walk the Earth."

"Well," Lucifer smirks, "There's a reason for that, because unlike your big daddy Trigon, I've learn to accept that the old ways are gone."

Spades asks, "So why are you here?"

"A few reasons, actually: One, to warn you. Turn back, because these guys know you're coming. They're ready to kill each and every one of you. Second, there is a traitor in your mists. I don't know who, but somebody sold you out to the cultists."

Raven doesn't believe him. "A traitor? How do we know you're not lying to us? You're the former king of Hell. Deception is your specialty."

Lucifer chuckles, "Well then maybe I'm using reverse psychology, because there's still a group of angry little Trigon worshippers ready to kill all of you except two… The one they're after, and the one that betray the rest of ya. Problem is I'm pretty sure you're just gonna ignore my words and go in anyway…" His grin disappears, and he turns to Spades again, "Seriously though, I like you, kid. Don't jump into a lake because the goth girl says so."

Spades looks down the hallway again. "Forgive Raven, Lucifer. She does not trust you for obvious reasons."

Lucifer smirks, "Oh really? I thought she was just starting to like me," she winks at Raven.

Raven just continues to glare at him, disgusted. "You cannot prove any of this to us."

"Oh, I could," Lucifer replies, "But which one of you would like to die first? The proof would be in the screams of the first idiot to walk down that hall. So, anyone? No? Didn't think so. So go home. If you value your lives, you'll turn back now."

Raven hesitates. Spades eventually speaks up, "So Lucifer, do you know who this traitor is?"

Leyla's ears perk up. "Serena disappeared before we entered."

"Serena?" Spades asks, "I've known her for years. It can't be her."

Suddenly, they hear the low croak of a black bird from down the hall. Its black eyes pierce through the shrouds of black.

Lucifer winces slightly and grabs his chest, "Sh*t, little bastards know we're here now. I can't stick around. You're on your own, kid, don't be an idiot!" Lucifer's body then turns gray and falls apart like ash.

Leyla watches him collapse until he was mere dust on the floor. "Ok… That was freaky."

The bird squawks again. Spades launches a fireball at it, causing it to shatter. "We need to decide now. Do we keep going? Do we turn back?"

Raven says, "As much as you don't like it, we need to keep going…"

Spades clenches his fist, "Raven, we can't just walk into a trap!"

"It's not a trap so long as we know it's there… Proceed with caution."

Leyla takes Spades's arm, "It'll be ok, Spades. We're here this time as a team."

Spades nods, "I guess you're right…" he reluctantly admits, "But leave the others outside. Last thing I need is Zero's obnoxious voice alerting them to our arrival."

"Understood," Leyla replies.

Raven continues ahead. "Stay close. Don't stray apart from each other."


	21. Forbidden

**Forbidden**

Raven enters the room with the markings across the walls. Spades is soon to follow, with Leyla guarding the exit. Her ears twitch attentively, "Maybe we should listen to that Lucifer guy… I have a bad feeling about this."

Spades responds, "I'm afraid we can't turn back now… as much as I'd _like_ to," he looks at Raven.

Raven ignores Spades and just begins to chant something under her breath. The markings illuminate in red until the wall in front of them melts away. Beyond it is a passage into the underground of the city, through the rocky cliff that Titans East was built against. Raven tells Leyla, "Turn into a small insect and scout ahead. They know we're coming, but they don't know that we're prepared…"

Leyla nods and turns into a mosquito. She silently buzzes through the air above their heads until she disappears into the dark.

Spades immediately becomes anxious. He waits for about a minute before he takes a step to go after Leyla, but Raven grabs his shoulder. "Stop."

Spades tries to pull away, "She's taking too long…"

"Have some patience."

Just then, Leyla flutters back in the form of a moth for faster flight. She changes back to normal to tell them, "All clear."

Raven releases Spades and walks past him. Spades takes Leyla's hand protectively and follows Raven close. As they proceed deeper into the tunnels, they can soon hear voices.

"…The weak shall be cast aside! The traitors to our cause, burned at the stake! The doubtful, thrown to the pit! As for the foolish who dare stand in our way; **crushed** by the mighty fist of Lord Trigon!" Words of a speech, still familiar to Spades from the last time he had run into these cultists.

Leyla whispers, "What are they ranting about?"

Spades mutters, "They might be preparing for a sacrifice. Makes sense… They'd be expecting us after all… but we haven't been ambushed yet."

Raven says, "Even if they don't know we're here, don't let your guard down."

Spades sighs, "The fact that they're so calm about it, if they _do_ know, only scares the sh -t out of me…"

Raven keeps walking quietly ahead, "Keep moving."

Spades grits his teeth. He wants to argue now, but knows better than to even bother with an attempt. He whispers to Raven, "I want an escape plan."

Raven states, "I already have one."

"Really? It'd be lovely if you could fill me in on it!" he exclaims while forcing himself to whisper.

Raven puts her hand up to silence him and stop him from walking any further. She carefully peers around a corner, then whispers, "Two of them are guarding the door… Leyla, can you take them out?"

Leyla hisses, her teeth becoming fanged, "Easy." She turns into a cobra and slithers up to Spades.

Spades picks her up. "On the count of three, we'll get them both. Alright?"

Raven nods. She creates two orbs of black energy in her hands, "One… two… three!" she whispers and then turns the corner.

Spades jumps out at the same time and throws Leyla at the first guard.

Leyla sinks her fangs into the man's neck and injects a poison, which causes the man to fall limp to the floor before he can even yell. Meanwhile behind him, Spades hears a second thud. He turns around to find the second guard slumped against the wall, unconscious, with a band of black energy around his neck to choke him out.

Raven releases the bond and rushes ahead. Spades picks up Leyla and follows Raven as they arrive in the central chamber.

The faces of the cultists are once again concealed by their shrouds, with the exception of their leader. It is the same man from before, but Spades only recognizes his gray hair. As before, he cannot see his facial features from here.

Leyla turns into an eagle and perches herself on Spades's shoulder, watching the group below.

Spades glances at her and asks, "What are you doing?"

Leyla scratches his shoulder with her talons in a gesture to silence him. She continues watching the group below, using the telescopic vision of her eagle form to get a closer view of the cult leader. Leyla turns back to normal, "I can see his face, but I don't recognize it. Who is this Brother Blood guy anyway? If this is him, I wouldn't know."

Raven squints in an attempt to better see the figure on the stage below. She cannot see his face from this distance, but she still explains to Leyla, "He'd be the third Brother Blood I've known of. There were two others before our time, each a father to their successor… That means that the current Brother Blood, like his own father, probably murdered the former leader in the Church of Blood."

Spades asks, "Would you recognize Brother Blood if that was him?"

"Not from here. I can't tell who he is. Let's get closer." Raven gets up.

Spades frowns, "That _isn't_ what I meant…" He follows.

Leyla trails behind the two of them, cautiously watching their rear as they find a passage in the shadows behind some rocks to approach the stage. They peer out carefully now and then to see what is going on, but immediately duck back down.

The voice of their leader draws closer. "A new age is upon us. The flames of Trigon's kin will either serve as a beacon for our Lord… or a barrier. The torch that has once guided our path has instead fallen and set fire to our hopes of Paradise. Yet we let it burn, for it was our only light in the darkness. However, there is now another. It is time to extinguish the inferno and allow ourselves to move on!"

Spades suddenly stops. He feels a sharp pain in his chest and through his right hand. He leans against the rocks and begins to feel disorientated.

The cult leader continues, "We shall spark this new beacon with the flames of the old and use it as our new beacon of hope! We shall smother the fire burning our dreams and march forward through the ashes toward A New Dawn!"

Leyla comes up behind him and whispers, "Jer? What's wrong?" she checks him.

Raven stops and turns around, "Spades?" She kneels down to pull his hand away from his chest.

Spades opens his hand. The markings are back on his palm, searing his flesh with a bright red glow.

The cultists speak in unison, "All hail Lord Trigon! Praised be!"

The leader states, "As I speak, our very own ranks are being infiltrated by our enemies. I have foreseen their arrival. Lord Trigon already knows their every move long before they make it… Their actions bring them ever closer to their destiny."

Spades balls his hand into a fist, "Forget about me. Keep going." He forces himself to stand up again.

Raven nods and turns to continue onward. They are close enough to see the cultist leader now.

Leyla's pointed ears fold back against her head. She stays close to Spades, often looking over her shoulder in case someone snuck up on them.

Raven confirms, "It _is_ him… Brother Blood. Spades, look," she whispers as she ducks behind the rocks again.

Spades carefully stands up until he can see over the rocks. On the stage behind an altar, the leader stands. He is a tall, elderly man with a posture strong and confident. His skin is fair, and few wrinkles corrupt his appearance. His light gray hair that curled like white horns is the only feature that gives away his lost youth. The smile on his face is brimming with pride and a sense of triumph. Then his eyes turn toward Spades.

Spades immediately ducks back down behind the rocks. His heart begins pounding. The sting from his markings drastically worsens for a short instant. He presses his palm against the cold stone ground in order to give him self some kind of relief.

Brother Blood pauses for a moment, still smirking, and still looking in Spades's direction until he continues. "The hour draws nigh… Our people are on the horizon of their future."

Spades starts feeling dizzy again. His hands begin to shake uncontrollably.

Brother Blood raises his arms, "Dawn is breaking… Greet the new day!"

The cultist members repeat louder than before, "All hail Lord Trigon! Praised be!"

Spades sees the four red eyes again. A spark of crimson energy shoots across his hands. He hears a deep voice in the back of his mind, _**"Your sister could not run from me… Nor can you hide…"**_

The energy short causes Leyla to jump back. She immediately grabs Raven's shoulder and pulls her over. "Something's wrong with Jer..!" Leyla forces herself to whisper.

Raven turns around. "Spades?"

Spades growls and shakes his head, "I'm fine! Just hurry up and take them down!"

Raven frowns, "We can't launch an attack with you in this condition… Forgive me, Spades. It was a mistake bringing you here…" She moves to help Spades to his feet.

Spades pushes Raven off. "No!" he exclaims.

Raven grabs him anyway and starts picking him up. Leyla helps to carry Spades quickly away from the stage.

The further away they get, the less stress Spades is forced to endure. The dizziness subsides and his hand stops burning. They hide behind a stone pillar once they are in the back of the chamber again.

Leyla senses him beginning to relax. "Are you ok now, Jer?" she asks.

Spades nods slightly, "Better, yes… I don't know for how long."

Raven looks toward the crowd a second time. Her movements are uneasy.

Spades to replies to her body language, "I know, we gotta get this done…"

"Yes," Raven sighs, "We don't know what they're planning. We have to stop them while we still can…" she hesitates, "but we can't do that if you cannot fight. I don't want to turn back, but we might have to."

"So we'll regroup?" Spades asks.

"Yes, we know the way now… If we have Triard and Zero, we'll stand more of a chance."

"And Serena?"

"Forget Serena," Leyla interjects, "She can't be trusted."

Raven nods, "If we cross paths with her, we'll have to abort this mission entirely. We can't risk it until we have done a proper investigation… After all, it could also be Triard or Zero betraying us."

"I hate the idea of that…" Spades sighs, "Traitors disgust me on a level you cannot comprehend."

"They could be possessed. Don't rule them out as a traitor yet, Spades," Raven tells him. "It may even be my eyes Trigon could be looking through… Unlikely, perhaps, but it is still possible."

"But first we have to get out of here," Spades mutters.

Leyla's ears perk up for a moment. Her head turns sharply before she lunges forward to tackle Spades. "**LOOK OUT!**" she screams.

Spades sees a pair of arrows zip past behind Leyla and hit the wall. Raven was out of the line of fire, but immediately she turns to defend against their assailants. "_Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!_" A black orb appears around them for protection.

They can hear Brother Blood, "Serve the Red Drink for Lord Trigon!"

Several sentinels were already surrounding Spades and his group. One of them is redrawing his bow. All of them are masked and armored like the ones Spades killed back in Salem with his curse. Spades considers using the dark magic again, but he fears it may backfire if he faints like he did last time.

Another sentinel picks up a vicious spiked mace and strikes the black barrier. Raven winces sharply as a section of the barrier cracks.

Spades swears, "So the little f—kers _were_ waiting for us…"

Raven grunts, "No turning back now."

Leyla gets to her feet and snarls, baring her sharp teeth. "Bring it! I'll rip them apart!" She turns into a velociraptor and waits for Raven to drop the barrier.

Spades stands up as well and prepares a set of fireballs. "We can't fight all of them. Let's clear an escape route."

"Agreed," Raven responds. The sentinel continues smashing at the barrier until the cracks widen. Raven releases it upon his next swing, causing his momentum to pull him slightly forward.

The instant he does, Leyla snaps out at him and chomps down on his arm. She jerks it back to tear it right off and toss it aside.

The barrier drops entirely now. Both sides charge at one another. A violent battle ensues.


	22. Broken Wings

**Broken Wings**

The sentinels attack from all sides. Raven lashes out at them with a spiral of dark magic, striking them down while Spades and Leyla finish them off.

An archer on a balcony above snipes at Leyla, but Spades sends a ball of flame swirling up toward him. It detonates to send the man falling from his vantage point.

Spades hears a sword drawn from behind him. One of the soldiers lets out a war cry. Spades turns to blast a hole through his stomach.

The man falls and laughs weakly, "I do not fear death! Paradise awaits me!"

Spades takes the man's sword. A slash to his neck finishes him off. Spades looks away when the blood begins gushing. Another warrior starts firing arrows at them.

One of them sticks Leyla in the shoulder. She lets out a deafening screech and moves to dodge additional shots.

Spades feels a deep hatred well up inside of him when Leyla is hit. He turns in the direction of the assailant and runs toward him.

The archer is redrawing his bow when Spades grapples him by the neck. Using the sword, he stabs the man under the arm and into his chest where the armor did not cover him.

The man only looks at Spades, although clearly in agony, and yet he is smiling. "You have given me eternity…" the man wheezes before his eyes roll back.

Spades throws him down, only to feel a sharp pain shoot through his spine like electricity. Spades collapses to the floor and spots a sorcerer off to the edge of the melee, holding a wooden staff.

Raven stands over Spades and grabs the sorcerer's cane with her telekinesis. She snaps it in two and then launches the unarmed spell caster through the room.

Leyla turns to normal and kneels down to help Spades up, though her shoulder is bleeding.

Spades gets to his feet and tells Leyla, "This will sting… Hold still…" He uses the blade of the sword to cut the shaft of the arrow.

Leyla's ears fold back, but she braces herself.

Spades gives her the shaft of the arrow to bite down on while he rips the rest of it out. He quickly shoves his index finger into the wound and uses immense heat to sear the flesh until it stops bleeding.

Leyla screams immediately and begins thrashing around, but Spades holds her steady.

Spades removes his finger. "That will stop you from bleeding out," he tells her.

Leyla spits out the arrow shaft and turns into a raptor again. She returns to the fight.

A few sentinels make it close to Raven, forcing her into hand-to-hand combat. Spades dives in between her and her opponent to even the odds. He uses a burst of fire to drive them back. Raven follows up with a wave of energy to thrust them against the walls.

Brother Blood appears in the battle. He fires a bolt of crimson at Spades and strikes him in the arm.

Spades stumbles back and falls to the floor. From his wrist to his elbow, red markings begin appearing and burning him.

Brother Blood walks calmly towards him. "At last we meet, young man… Your mother thought she could hide you from us. A shame she could be here to protect you now." He lifts his hand again as static darts between his fingertips.

Raven screams as four red eyes appear on her face, similar to those on Trigon's head. However, she turns on Brother Blood and towers into the air. Her cloak stretches over ten feet tall as she hunches over toward him, imposing her might. She snarls at Brother Blood, **"You stay away from him!"**

Brother Blood frowns, "You always were so defiant of your father's will, Rachel. Stand aside if you value your life."

"**I won't let you take him,"** Raven growls. Debris begins orbiting around her tall form.

Brother Blood takes a step back, gathering power in the palm of his left hand. "This is your final warning, young lady. Stand aside and perhaps you will be spared."

Spades stands upright. His arm is searing and smoldering, yet he is numb to the pain. His sleeve is gone, charred and reduced to ash on the chamber floor.

Brother Blood laughs slightly, "You're still foolish enough to keep fighting? How amusing. Still, you will learn. You will submit. It is only a matter of time until your demise."

Raven surges toward him, **"Only **_**your**_** demise will come tonight!"**

Suddenly, images begin flashing through Spades's head. He sees himself surrounded by graves. A black bird is sitting upon one of the headstones. The vision disappears as quickly as it came. Spades feels his heart sink. "RAVEN!!" he cries out.

Brother Blood throws his arm forward and fires a red orb into Raven's chest. It goes through her torso and out her back, tearing a hole through her cloak. She begins screeching and screaming. Black tentacles spread from the bottom of her cloak and start slashing across the walls and floor.

Spades jumps to one side to dodge one of the dark arms. He tries to run toward Raven, but a barrier appears in front of him. He bounces off it.

Spades hears a voice in his head. _"Run."_ He doesn't have time to think. Leyla grabs his arm and pulls him away. Spades tries to resist at first, but soon tears his eyes away from the spectacle and runs with her.

He hears Raven's infuriated screams as he disappears into the shadows with Leyla. A moment later, a high pitched screech like a bird of prey rattles through the catacombs. It is immediately followed by the cries of men… then silence.

Spades stops running and turns to face down the dark hall again. He couldn't hear anything aside from his own breathing.

Leyla skids to a halt to look back with him. "What is it?" she asks.

Spades just continues staring. His hands are trembling. His mind is telling him to run away, and he tells himself that Raven will catch up, but in his heart he knows better than to believe in such a thing. "She's gone…"

Leyla's ears fold back, "Jer, she'll be alright. We have to keep moving..!"

Spades turns at Leyla, almost angry, but his eyes are watering. "She's gone!! I'll say it again, she's **gone!!**" The markings on his arm crawl up toward his shoulder. He can't even feel them anymore.

A pair of sentinels can be seen walking toward them from down the hall. They draw their weapons and start running.

Spades faces them. He puts his hands together for his spell.

Leyla jerks on his cape, "Jeremy!! We can't stay!!"

Spades mutters, "I'm killing all of them… Get out while you can…"

"I'm not leaving you behind!"

"**Leave me!!"** Spades yells at her, but then turns away. "I'll slaughter these demons! _**Necrenom hexberek MORT—!!**_"

Leyla turns into a gorilla and strikes him in the back of the head, interrupting the curse. Everything spins and disappears in an instant.

By the time Spades wakes up, he's outside again. He can feel cold air moving over his body. He slowly sits up to feel scales beneath him.

Leyla is soaring through the skies in the form of a dragon, carrying Spades on her back. Her mighty wings carry her across the ocean. Behind them, Spades can see Triard flying with Zero, who is also using a dragon body. Serena is riding on his back. They must have found her.

Spades feels his heart sink into his stomach just looking at Serena. Had she seriously betray them? Was she possessed? Or did she have nothing to do with it at all? Spades considers interrogation, but he doubts his patience with her. Did it even _matter_ at this point? Spades thought.

There is light to the east. Morning is coming. A new day is rising, and Spades tries to tell himself an age-old philosophy, _"Even after the darkest nights, morning always comes…"_ How could he believe that at this point? How long until Leyla is taken from him as well? What about the rest of his team? The rising sun only represents another day's worth of sheer blind luck having been exhausted. Eventually that luck will run out.

Spades wants to begin sobbing, but he holds back for now. He promises himself he'll at least wait until they are back at the tower before he does.

Suddenly, Leyla changes course. The others keep flying. This catches Spades by surprise. "Where are we going?"

Leyla doesn't reply. She glides gently toward the harbor, heading for the Bunker Hill monument. Upon landing, she lowers her body to allow Spades to step off.

Spades sets foot on the cold, crusty snow still remaining from the flurries a few days ago. Everything is so quiet here, aside from the distant ambience of the morning commute.

Leyla turns back to normal, but doesn't speak a word. She waits for Spades to begin.

Spades puts his hand to his forehead and sighs. He rubs across it uneasily, brushing the hair out of his eyes. He begins trembling. Thoughts coarse through his mind; Raven was the sister Spades never had. Even before he lost his family, there wasn't a sibling he could turn to until he befriended Raven. She adopted him in a way and tried to teach him so many things… Now she was gone. Mere hours ago, not even a full day had yet passed, and she just disappeared from his life in an instant. The realization hits him that the bond they shared is gone _forever_. It is this revelation that finally pushes Spades over the edge. He breaks down…

Leyla takes Spades into her arms. She pulls him back to sit on the base of a statue that stands in front of the Bunker Hill monument. It is the icon of a soldier, a memorial to those who fought to give birth to this country.

A wind begins to pick up all around them, howling and blowing through the buildings and across the roads. The speed steadily increases until powdered snow covers the park path beneath a layer of white.

Spades buries his face against Leyla's shoulder and muffles his cries. The last time Spades remembers feeling like this was when his former home burned to the ground.

Leyla already knows what he's thinking. She nuzzles him gently in an effort to comfort him. "At least this time you have a shoulder to cry on… I know it isn't much, but isn't it better than being alone?" She too had tears in the corner of her eyes. Seeing Spades like this broke her heart. "People come and go… they live and die. It's something that can't be avoided…" She kisses his forehead.

Spades balls his hand into a fist, trying to cover his sadness with anger. "I could seek out the traitors and destroy them. Avenge her."

Leyla holds him tight, "No, Jer… That won't solve anything… We need to finish what was started." She holds up his hand to show him the scars were there again.

Spades gazes upon the markings before slowly pulling his hand away so he doesn't have to look at it anymore. "Brother Blood killed her… I'm no where near strong enough to contend with Raven, and Brother Blood _killed_ her in mere minutes… There's no way I can defeat him… You know how I hate admitting defeat, Leyla."

Leyla assures him, "We haven't lost yet. We _won't_ lose. We're the good guys, remember?" she smiles ever so faintly.

Spades tries to believe her, but he just shakes his head. "It doesn't work that way in the real world… or Raven would still be here… Brother Blood would be in prison… _This_ would be over by now."

Leyla frowns, "Jeremy, you know better than that. It was her time I guess… but look, she got us out alive. Thanks to her we can keep fighting."

Spades continues shaking his head, "Good things don't just magically happen to good people, Leyla. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't work that way."

Leyla sighs, "What happened to you, Jeremy?" she pauses, "Good things can happen, but I know good things don't happen to people who sit around hoping for it. I don't care how good they are."

Spades looks away, "The man who fills his wallet through labor is a man of honor and hardship. The man who steals the other man's wallet is a man of dishonor and luxury. Which is to be preferred; honor or possession?"

Leyla looks him in the eye, "Don't start talking like that."

"Why not?" Spades stands up, "To fight or not to fight? That is my question. Is it easier to turn the other cheek; to walk away? Or to do unto others as they do unto you! Through conflict—bring lasting peace! Do you allow the dishonorable _rob_ you of what is not theirs to take? Such as money? Possessions? _Life_?!" he yells. "I want the people who caused this to **suffer** for what they have done! No amount of past loyalty will protect a _traitor_ from the punishment I intend for them!"

Leyla grabs his arms and pulls him back into a tight hug, "Jeremy… Just calm down and think… If you're blind with anger, you'll just get hurt."

Spades is still shaking, but he tries to take her advice. His arms slowly relax and hang at his sides. Eventually they wrap around Leyla to embrace her in return. He takes a deep breath, and an unsteady sigh escapes him.


End file.
